Hello, everyone. I want to make a quick post talking about things that stand out to me early in the meta.
I have over 70 games in the tier now and am at the top of the ladder with a fairly sizable lead, so although my word is not gospel since the metagame is so early, my words do have some credibility to them.
Here are the Pokémon that stand out to me:
First off, Tyranitar: It's still really good. I like Taunt on DD sets because it lets you really mess with Skarmory. I do not believe that it gets Pursuit, but other than that, it's basically the same old Pokémon but with multiple of its big checks gone. It's absolutely amazing.
Skarmory and Blissey: They're still good. Stall is really hurting because Blissey doesn't get Heal Bell or Aromatherapy anymore.
Snorlax: Snorlax is really good. It doesn't get Self Destruct anymore, and yet I would say that it's a staple of this metagame that will only get better with time. I recommend running it with Jolteon and Starmie because this trio all has great synergy in my opinion. Brick Break is almost always better than Earthquake now because Tyranitar is around, but Metagross and Jirachi aren't.
Snorlax has 2 major sets, Curse and the usual all-out attacking/support. I run Curse/Brick Break/Shadow Ball/Body Slam, which is really strong with proper support. For max potential, use Magneton and clear the weather, but this isn't necessary at all. All-out attacking/support is sort of a choose your own adventure situation, but I think that Body Slam and Shadow Ball are usually necessary. Other strong moves are Brick Break, Focus Punch, Yawn, and Counter.
Starmie: This is an amazing Pokémon in my opinion. Blissey doesn't feel quite as ubiquitous as in ADV, and its only Rapid Spin competition of note is Donphan. Starmie beats DD Tar by switching in and KOing with Hydro Pump, which is incredibly valuable in this format because of the lack of DD Tar checks. Starmie's high speed and amazing power also let you completely tear through teams once their normal blob is gone.
Dragonite: I have not experimented with this Pokémon a ton, but it's one of the most versatile Pokémon in the tier. Its stats make for an amazing all-rounder Pokémon. You can use physical, special, and mixed sets, and alter your bulk EVs to live almost any hit.
Marowak: This Pokémon is an amazing lead. As a response to lead Tyranitar, nothing rivals it. It can respond to almost any switch that Tyranitar makes with SD/Earthquake/Rock Slide/Focus Punch. It struggles into leads like Jynx and Cloyster, though.
Gengar: It loses Will-O-Wisp and the elemental punches, but it's still amazing. Hypnosis is great on offense, as well as Thunderbolt/HP Ice/Explosion sets.
Scizor: Scizor is the best Agility passer and SD passer in the tier. It isn't amazing at its job, but it's still a good Pokémon and the face of 2 decent archetypes.
Mr. Mime: To be honest, Mr. Mime is kind of overkill and not super good, but Soundproof still ruins a lot of teams when used with speedpass + Belly Drum users and Marowak. I recommend having Magneton on-hand in case Skarmory is using whirlwind. Use Whirlwind on your Skarmories, by the way. Whirlwind will save you vs Mr. Mime.
Tauros: I didn't expect this Pokémon to be that good, but it's really strong on Magneton offense. Choice band doesn't exist, but leftovers 4 attacks is still plenty strong and it synergizes with Snorlax and Gyarados very well.
Gyarados: Really strong DD sweeper. In the case that your team is weak to Jolteon, I recommend making it jolly and then EVing the speed to 264-ish. It lets you outspeed Jolteon and Aero. Hydro Pump is now a decent option if your team is weak to Donphan, which Magneton offense tends to be.
Goodbye, fellas. I hope that you enjoyed hearing my thoughts. Have fun playing the meta.
