Metagame National Dex Metagame Discussion

[LORD SAGIS]

A cool set I've running as of late.


Hydreigon @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 224 SpA / 32 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast / Dark Pulse
- Belch

Z-Belch is pretty funny as it not only kills Clefable, but also Tapu Fini. Luring these Defensive threats can open the doors for Mega Blastoise, Zygarde, and others to run rampant. Because it drops Roost I prefer running this set on very Offensive teams due to the fact that you give up being able to recover up any chip so every turn matters for it. I should note that picking between Fire Blast and Dark Pulse is very hard for me. It basically "do you hit Heatran or Magearna and do extra to Ferrothorn."

 

[Jho]

I feel like Blastoise is being massively overrated recently, in here, in the VR, and in the Discord and PS. Whilst Mega Blastoise is extremely strong and forces some amount of centralisation in the metagame, it is by no means the most threatening mon in the tier and, in my opinion, isn't even close to being so. In my experience, Mega Blastoise is extremely limited in the teams it can be used on, and is most potent on HO due to how reliant it is on Spikes support to effectively sweep. HO also provides it with teammates that can punish its checks extremely effectively - If Chansey stops Mega Blastoise's sweep, that is a free set-up opportunity for Zygarde, if Tapu Fini prevents Mega Blastoise from winning, that's a set-up opportunity for Magearna to possibly win etc. Whilst Spikes obviously can be used on some bulky offenses, they are much more difficult to reliably keep on the field for the entirety of the match. Bulky Offenses also cannot punish the Pokemon which stop Mega Blastoise's sweep quite as effectively. A lot of people are also posting calcs for Modest Blastoise when arguing its brokenness and Modest is significantly worse as it allows Blastoise to be revenge killed by a much larger range of Scarfers, most notably Kartana. Aura Sphere is also something that should rarely ever be considered as dropping Hydro Pump / Dark Pulse / Ice Beam is suboptimal. This is another reason why Mega Blastoise fits almost exclusively onto HO, as there is an abundance of teammates which can wear down or set-up on Ferrothorn and Chansey (Flare Blitz Mew, Bisharp, Fairy/Fighting Magearna etc) which are the only relevant Aura Sphere targets. There is also the idea that Mega Blastoise will always be at 100% after it Shell Smashes, which is just not happening often in practice. Mega Blastoise will very rarely find opportunities to set-up without taking a hit, which makes it much easier to revenge kill with the abundance of priority in the meta. Yes, forcing teams to run ways to revenge kill or hard wall it is centralising but it is not necessarily unhealthy centralisation. There are also ways to revenge kill it outside of the common priority options - both Ditto and Greninja are perfectly viable forms of speed control outside of revenge killing Mega Blastoise with that added benefit.

This, to me, is limiting enough on Mega Blastoise, on top of having a few workable counters, for it to not be the insane threat people are calling it out to be. I do think it will be worthy of a Suspect Test after we have dealt with the most prominent issues in the metagame which to me are Zygarde and Mega Metagross. Right now, I also think Aegislash and G-Darm are about as strong as Mega Blastoise, but if/when Zygarde and Mega Metagross leave us, we lose one(ish) of the most common priority options in the metagame which will make Mega Blastoise harder to deal with.

This seemed like a rant, but that's my 2c since I don't feel like I have portrayed it properly talking in the discord, so here it is.

Also, as an aside whilst I'm here: National Dex will not be incorporating the datamined home TMs/TRs after some internal discussion, so please refrain from discussing them here going forward.

 

[KirbCena]

I don't really get why people keep saying this needs to be suspected (and this is coming from someone who's been using Mega Metagross since right after the Arena Trap ban). It's far easier to check and beat compared to gen 7, as the prevalence of new breakers like Dragapult, as well as walls both new and old that perform spectacularly in NatDex such as Corviknight and Teleport Slowbro means this isn't as monstrous as it was before. The fact that these mons are pretty splashable on a lot of builds to check other stuff like Zygarde doesn't make matters better either. It also can't just run whatever moves it wants either anymore, with Grass Knot and HP Fire lure sets being virtually nonexistent, and it also struggles to fit its STAB in ZHB over necessary coverage in TPunch, Ice Punch, Earthquake, as well as Stealth Rock. This isn't to say that Mega Metagross is bad, as it's still really good at beating other stuff like Clefable and Toxapex, but it isn't exactly broken either.

Also RIP Nasty Plot Torn-T and Play Rough Koko

 

[KirbCena]

Also, as an aside whilst I'm here: National Dex will not be incorporating the datamined home TMs/TRs after some internal discussion, so please refrain from discussing them here going forward.

Sorry for the double post as I meant to include this in my previous one, as well as sorry for bringing this up, but what was the exact reasoning in this internal discussion that decided we wouldn't be implementing the new movepools? I'm not trying to be disrespectful or anything of the sort, but it would be good to know what influenced this decision, especially after we were told by the council last month that these new movepools WOULD be implemented in order to follow cartridge. Again, not meaning to be rude, but it would've been helpful to have had some more information involving the decision.

 

[Solaros & Lunaris]

Sorry for the double post as I meant to include this in my previous one, as well as sorry for bringing this up, but what was the exact reasoning in this internal discussion that decided we wouldn't be implementing the new movepools? I'm not trying to be disrespectful or anything of the sort, but it would be good to know what influenced this decision, especially after we were told by the council last month that these new movepools WOULD be implemented in order to follow cartridge. Again, not meaning to be rude, but it would've been helpful to have had some more information involving the decision.

It was a combination of this discussion and some slight butting heads on Discord. TLDR we agreed to leave NatDex as is (no TRs/TMs) until Isle Of Armor confirmed these learnsets.

 

[soannoying]

Can we unban Arceus-Normal?There are so many things wall him to death,calc:
+2 252+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 94-111 (23.5 - 27.7%) -- 86.1% chance to 4HKO

+6 252+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Unaware Quagsire: 109-129 (27.6 - 32.7%) -- 72.4% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252+ Atk Arceus Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar: 152-180 (46.9 - 55.5%) -- 74.6% chance to 2HKO

+2 252+ Atk Arceus Shadow Claw vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Sableye-Mega: 98-116 (32.3 - 38.2%) -- 97.3% chance to 3HKO

 

[theotherguytm]

...Apparently in this broken clusterf*** of a meta what we clearly need is more broken setup sweepers. This isn't even worth replying to but anyway I need to let off steam and want to run lots of calcs.

+2 252+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 94-111 (23.5 - 27.7%) -- 86.1% chance to 4HK

Firstly, Corv is used as a blanket check to so much of the metagame that the chances of it being on full health are zero, especially on a team built around EKiller. Corv does nothing back to Ekiller:
0 Atk Corviknight Brave Bird vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 99-117 (22.4 - 26.5%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Stealth Rock
48 Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Chople Berry Arceus: 54-64 (12.2 - 14.5%) -- possible 7HKO after Stealth Rock
48 Def Corviknight Body Press vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 108-128 (24.4 - 29%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Stealth Rock
BTW, no-one runs full Phys Def Corv because you need it to blanket check as much as possible. EKiller therefore uses Corv as setup fodder:
+6 252+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 48 Def Corviknight: 247-291 (61.7 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+6 252+ Atk Arceus Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 48 Def Corviknight: 289-341 (72.2 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Not to mention:
+6 252+ Atk Arceus Breakneck Blitz (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 48 Def Corviknight: 495-582 (123.7 - 145.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Whoops.

+6 252+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Unaware Quagsire: 109-129 (27.6 - 32.7%) -- 72.4% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

I love how the only calc you posted that shows Arceus at +6 is against an Unaware mon, and Quagsire can only status EKiller, so if it carries Refresh, it outstalls Quagsire, and uses it as setup bait again. Besides, Quag is only used on stall, which is garbage.

+2 252+ Atk Arceus Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar: 152-180 (46.9 - 55.5%) -- 74.6% chance to 2HKO

HAHAHA You poor soul, who even uses this garbage XD Hint: If you're having to use a sh**mon to beat a sweeper, it's probably busted. (Not that Gorsola beats EKiller anyway, it is literally helpless against Refresh varients and gets 2HKOed, as you kindly pointed out, by Shadow Claw varients. And that's assuming EKiller's teammates haven't crippled it with Knock or Toxic).

+2 252+ Atk Arceus Shadow Claw vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Sableye-Mega: 98-116 (32.3 - 38.2%) -- 97.3% chance to 3HKO

+6 252+ Atk Arceus Shadow Claw vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Sableye-Mega: 259-305 (85.4 - 100.6%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (again, no-one runs Phys Def on this thing, it's only used on stall, gets used as setup bait, and it wastes your mega slot XD)
Also, unbanning only EKiller, implies a complex ban on Arceus+Z Crystals other than Normalium, and Arceus+Plates. That is so dumb I don't even want to begin discussing it.

 

[KirbCena]

Can we unban Arceus-Normal?There are so many things wall him to death,calc:
+2 252+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 94-111 (23.5 - 27.7%) -- 86.1% chance to 4HKO

+6 252+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Unaware Quagsire: 109-129 (27.6 - 32.7%) -- 72.4% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252+ Atk Arceus Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar: 152-180 (46.9 - 55.5%) -- 74.6% chance to 2HKO

+2 252+ Atk Arceus Shadow Claw vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Sableye-Mega: 98-116 (32.3 - 38.2%) -- 97.3% chance to 3HKO

Damn bro you got the whole squad laughing.

Seriously though, tell us one mon that CONSISTENTLY beats Arceus that isn't on stall teams, along with one that does beat it on stall teams. which are shit in this meta and always will be. Who in the f*ck is going to use any of these mentioned mons aside from Corviknight(who isn't beating Arceus without Bulk Up sets and therefore isn't running any utility whatsoever) on non-stall? Hell, we decided months ago that Corsola-G isn't viable whatsoever anyways. Come back when you've broken past at least 1200 and have at least done some research.

And I think I speak for a lot of people when I say this, especially since this particular forum has had an influx of these types of posts over the last couple of days:

For the love of God, do some actual research before randomly advocating for a mon, whether it's for ranking a previously UR mon or unbanning/banning something. Just because something is "annoying" to deal with doesn't mean it's viable, and is about as intelligible as using a necktie for a napkin.

Sorry for turning this into a rant and a long-ass post, but seriously, you'd think more people would have this sort of common sense.

 

[Funbot28]

Just to ensure that this type of discussion does not need to prolong any further then it needs to, I would like to state that the council will not be looking into unbanning any Ubers for the time being for the simple fact that nothing really seems balanced enough to bring down to Nat Dex OU and any Ubers addition at this moment will just devalue the competitiveness of the tier. Please do not bring up any Uber unbanning discussion or else your post will be deleted moving forward.

Also expect other announcements regarding tiering soon!

 

[Funbot28]

Council update:
Unfortunately, due to irl taking a large amount of power's time, he will not be able to participate in council activity and thus will be removed in the regular and VR council's for the time being. We would like to thank him for his efforts and wish him all the best.

SputnikGT and Guardsweeper have been added to the National Dex council as replacements. Congratulations to them both and expect more updates regarding other possible council member additions / tiering changes using feedback in the "On the Radar" thread.

 

[Jho]

I know it’s been a while since the last council update a respectable 2 hours ago but Jordy has also joined the National Dex council, congrats!

 

[N_Mareanie]

goat council

 

[pulsar512b]

It is a pretty cool council tru.

ALSO: core idea:shell smash mblastoise+perish trap azumarill
Azu traps fini, etc, and lets Mblastoise kinda run wild.

 

[KirbCena]

It is a pretty cool council tru.

ALSO: core idea:shell smash mblastoise+perish trap azumarill
Azu traps fini, etc, and lets Mblastoise kinda run wild.

Problem with that core is Azumarill is really bad in this tier as a wallbreaker already, let alone the gimmick that is the Perish Trap set. Perish Trap is easy to predict, and once Fini is hit with Whirlpool, it can just Taunt + Moonblast Azu into oblivion before it can do anything significant. Other mons like Pex and Ferrothorn do die of course, but can take advantage by setting hazards like TSpikes and regular Spikes that can pressure your team immensely. Besides, most Mega Blastoise teams want to apply offensive pressure, rather than drain momentum like that. Still an interesting idea no doubt, but not the best.

 

[Funbot28]

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/national-dex-on-the-radar.3660975/#post-8396011

Update on the Zygarde quickban, use this thread to discuss the current metegame without bringing up new suspects until the metagame has time to properly adjust.

Thank you!

 

[StellaAthena]

Quite frankly, with Zyguarde banned I feel one actively needs a reason to not run Blastoise-Mega. I would expect many if not most BO teams get better when you replace the mega with Blastoise and change one other Pokémon for synergy reasons. Per mod request I am specifically disavowing any opinion on whether that makes it banworthy, but I have two questions for discussion:

1.What are good reasons to not run Blastoise-Mega?
2. Does banning Zyguarde increase the viability of other priority users? If so, which ones do you expect to see a boost?

 

[VCrakeV]

Quite frankly, with Zyguarde banned I feel one actively needs a reason to not run Blastoise-Mega. I would expect many if not most BO teams get better when you replace the mega with Blastoise and change one other Pokémon for synergy reasons. Per mod request I am specifically disavowing any opinion on whether that makes it banworthy, but I have two questions for discussion:

1.What are good reasons to not run Blastoise-Mega?
2. Does banning Zyguarde increase the viability of other priority users? If so, which ones do you expect to see a boost?

1. Incompatible playstyle (e.g stall), other solid mega Pokemon (Mega Metagross, for example), and redundancy (e.g you're using a team with specs Greninja, which shares hydro pump and dark pulse with Blastoise).

2. I don't think so. Zygarde wasn't a great abuser of extreme speed anyway. It wasn't really used for speed control, at least not the primary form of speed control. Mega Metagross is still a great form of speed control, with high speed and bullet punch (also mega mega Scizor on that point). Neither of these hit Blastoise hard, but that itself is hard. Their isn't any priority move that hits Blastoise super effectively, and most are too weak to do anything (with extreme speed, sucker punch, and first impression being exceptions).

 

[StellaAthena]

1. Incompatible playstyle (e.g stall), other solid mega Pokemon (Mega Metagross, for example), and redundancy (e.g you're using a team with specs Greninja, which shares hydro pump and dark pulse with Blastoise).

How spashable do you feel Metagross is, given that Zyguarde is now banned? I have found that the two form a potent offensive core, but that without Zyguarde Metagross requires much more support. I expect it’s usage to drop with the Zyguarde ban and there are only a couple other megas that seem like they could compete with Blastoise to me.

Looking at Feb. usage stats, only Metagross, Scizor, Swampert, Lopunny, Sableye, and Venusaur broke the 3% usage mark and only Scizor and Metagross broke 6%. Of note is that Sableye, Swampert, and Venusaur are only used on specific playstyles.

2. I don't think so. Zygarde wasn't a great abuser of extreme speed anyway. It wasn't really used for speed control, at least not the primary form of speed control. Mega Metagross is still a great form of speed control, with high speed and bullet punch (also mega mega Scizor on that point). Neither of these hit Blastoise hard, but that itself is hard. Their isn't any priority move that hits Blastoise super effectively, and most are too weak to do anything (with extreme speed, sucker punch, and first impression being exceptions).

To be clear, I did have revenge killing Blastoise partially in mind when I wrote that. Extreme Speed has rather limited distribution, but it does allow a couple Pokémon to hit Blastoise hard:

252+ Atk Choice Band Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 188-222 (62.8 - 74.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Entei Extreme Speed vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 169-199 (56.5 - 66.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

You also have

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 187-222 (62.5 - 74.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Hustle Durant First Impression vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 250-295 (83.6 - 98.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO, OHKO with Life Orb or Choice Band

but almost every other Pokémon’s sucker punch or first impression isn’t strong enough to do much. Even Dragapult requires a choice band to 2HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Dragapult Sucker Punch vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 121-143 (40.4 - 47.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Other forms of speed control (notably prankster t-wave) are likely to be more effective at neutering Blastoise.

 

[pulsar512b]

How spashable do you feel Metagross is, given that Zyguarde is now banned? I have found that the two form a potent offensive core, but that without Zyguarde Metagross requires much more support. I expect it’s usage to drop with the Zyguarde ban and there are only a couple other megas that seem like they could compete with Blastoise to me.

Looking at Feb. usage stats, only Metagross, Scizor, Swampert, Lopunny, Sableye, and Venusaur broke the 3% usage mark and only Scizor and Metagross broke 6%. Of note is that Sableye, Swampert, and Venusaur are only used on specific playstyles.



To be clear, I did have revenge killing Blastoise partially in mind when I wrote that. Extreme Speed has rather limited distribution, but it does allow a couple Pokémon to hit Blastoise hard:

252 Atk Choice Band Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. -2 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 228-269 (76.2 - 89.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Entei Extreme Speed vs. -2 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 225-265 (75.2 - 88.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

You also have

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. -2 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 250-295 (83.6 - 98.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Hustle Durant First Impression vs. -2 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 333-393 (111.3 - 131.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Hustle Durant First Impression vs. -2 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 333-393 (111.3 - 131.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

but almost every other Pokémon’s sucker punch or first impression isn’t strong enough to do much. Even Dragapult requires a choice band to 2HKO

252 Atk Dragapult Sucker Punch vs. -2 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 124-146 (41.4 - 48.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Other forms of speed control (notably prankster t-wave) are likely to be more effective at neutering Blastoise.

252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Sucker Punch vs. -2 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 246-290 (82.2 - 96.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Another way of revenging it.
im just an idiot

But that isn't what i'm here to talk about: I'm here to talk about a set that I heard of on the discord from Guardsweeper, namely Grassium Z Greninja.
Greninja @ Grassium Z
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Grass Knot
- Hydro Pump
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
Hydro pump is just to spam, ice beam is for tang etc, grass knot is to just murder bulky waters not named toxapex with the Z. Spikes are just cool.
They pointed out that it basically just rips through those tang+fire+fini balances that are common nowadays. A surprising number of teams just lose to it on preview. It really likes the ability to switch moves. It can bluff a number of other sets, such as ash-gren and scarf.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1080649863
I know Solaros and Lunaris has been using this as well (they took one of my teams that i posted in the discord and have been having much fun withi t).
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1081817395 - example of how it can just destroy teams
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1081781580
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1081781580 - here it baited in alolamola and destroyed it.

I've been using it with magnezone to trap Mscizor and ferro, both of which are hard for this set to break.
I've kind of been addicted to this set and it keeps finding it's way into teams. =

 

[Heavyweapons Mann]

Why is Blastoise at -2 in the calcs? Last I checked, Shell Smash was -1 to both defenses, unless it used Smash twice.

 

[pulsar512b]

Why is Blastoise at -2 in the calcs? Last I checked, Shell Smash was -1 to both defenses, unless it used Smash twice.

Just an idiot. I'm just an idiot.
Also forgot to mention the gren set lures Mblastoise and offensive waters as well- also can take off guard opposing AshGren for instance

 

[KirbCena]

First of all, thank fucking god Zygarde's banned. No more getting yeeted on by SubToxic and SubGlare.

Second of all, here's some of my predictions on the upcoming meta:



This will likely drop in usage, as others have already mentioned, as it lost its best partner due to their ability to wear down shared checks thanks to Zygarde commonly carrying Toxic. Now it'll need a lot more support in order to break opposing teams. It might still be decent on BO due its ability to compress a fast wallbreaker and a rocker, but it won't be as great on it's own. Not to mention a fuckton of its checks and counters that were vulnerable to Zygarde, namely Ferrothorn and Corviknight, are a whole lot better now. The aforementioned Grassium Gren looks like a great partner though!



These two still struggle quite a bit with Megagross and Darm-G being prevalent as of right now, but Zygarde being gone means Pex's weakness to Tarrows and Zapdos' inability to be a ground immunity against Zyg are both nonfactors, making them less of liabilities than before.



Hyper Offense definitely took a beating by losing it's best sweeper, but this ban also means Mega Blastoise has one less revenge killer to worry about, so aside from adapting with something Pult or Kommo-o, it'll likely be the same in viability. Expect stuff like Lop to still be high in usage if this ends up being the case.

 

[Heavyweapons Mann]

I’m not sure how much of a difference the calcs will make with -1 M-Stoise vs -2.

 

[StellaAthena]

My bad, updated my calcs to use -1 Def. The only important change is that Durant can now OHKO with First Impression if it has Life Orb.

That's a very interesting Gren set. I will definitely be giving it a shot.

While Zapdos does lose to Metagross, I think it does have utility in a post Zyguarde meta. Notably, it can defeat the common every member of the Blastoise-Kartana-Hawlucha-Magearna core, even beating Blastoise after it has set up. Specially defensive Zapdos can't be OHKO'd by Blastoise even at +2, while Thunderbolt allows it to OHKO Blastoise in return:

Calc

+2 252 SpA Blastoise-Mega Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zapdos: 312-368 (81.2 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. -1 0 HP / 4 SpD Blastoise-Mega: 312-368 (104.3 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Unfortunately there isn't a set that allows you to survive Blastoise's Ice Beam at +2 and guarantee a OHKO with Discharge:

Calc

88 SpA Zapdos Discharge vs. -1 0 HP / 4 SpD Blastoise-Mega: 300-354 (100.3 - 118.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Blastoise-Mega Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 168+ SpD Zapdos: 338-398 (88 - 103.6%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery

If you give exactly as much special bulk as allows you to live Blastoise's Ice Beam at +2 you can get a high chance to OHKO though:

Calc

48 SpA Zapdos Discharge vs. -1 0 HP / 4 SpD Blastoise-Mega: 288-342 (96.3 - 114.3%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Blastoise-Mega Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 208+ SpD Zapdos: 324-382 (84.3 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

When Blastoise doesn't carry Ice Beam, Zapdos can ensure it survives any attack at +2 and OHKO with Discharge in return.

 

[Cuddly]

With the ban on Zygarde, Corviknight and Rotom-H do not have to fear a Thousand Arrows ruining their days.
The lack of Zygarde also means these 2 can handle Mega-Metagross much more easily, as Zygarde was a good teammate for it.
Corviknight doesn’t mind Non-Thunder Punch variants of Mega-Metagross, and will just set up on it.
Rotom-H, while it worries about Zen Headbutt and Rock Slide, Rotom’s Stabs will be a safer option since it can’t be blue balled by Zygarde any more, especially Volt Switch.