Sorry this is about to be a wall. They call me the Donald.
Personally I'm not a huge fan of the current list tbh. I think a lot of people were more focused on the effect Pokemon had on a team building standpoint then the actual metagame, which is why stuff like Hoopa-U was being nommed when it shouldn't even be in the top 15 IMO. Not only was Hoopa-U hyped up for a small amount of time before it was banned, outside of having no switch-ins and kind of invalidating standard stall, it's nothing compared to what something like Landorus had on the metagame, which not only 6-0ed stall but also had its way with practically anything slower than it lacking an Ice-type move, and unlike Hoopa its Speed was good for a wallbreaker. Depending on what set it ran Landorus could realistically destroy stall, balance, and offense on team preview. Landorus was not only team restrictive, but it also swayed match ups heavily in the users favor because of how hard it was so safely scout for its moveset. Anyways, here's my personal opinion on what I think should be the top 10 of 6th gen:
1. Aegislash
2. Greninja
3. Clefable
4. Mega Scizor
5. Mega Zard-X
6. Mega Sableye
7. Deoxys-S
8. Landorus
9. Gothitelle
10. Landorus-T
I know I voted for Zard-X to be #1, but that was only because Aegi had no way of winning and I would rather see this in 1 than something like Lando-T. But yeah, nothing compares to Aegislash's impact on the meta, and while it wasn't around during ORAS its dominance was bigger than anything we've ever seen in a long time. The sheer amount of 50/50s it created, the insane amount of Pokemon it invalidated or made unviable, and how practically every match was centered around trying to kill Aegislash. It was extremely splashable, versatile, and unpredictable, and depending on what set it ran it theoretically had no reliable counters and it had very few reliable checks due to King's Shield. Zard-X may have been good the entire gen, but lets be real, Aegislash was the best Pokemon in gen 6, and anyone who played XY should have put this at #1 too IMO.
Greninja was much like Aegislash in how it was very hard to deal with offensively and defensively. Its Speed tier was incredible and with its insane coverage and Protean you would have to rely on really fast shit like Mega Manectric, Mega Zam, or a Scarfer. Defensively there was pretty much nothing outside of fat waters like Milotic or something, especially once it got Gunk Shot and Low Kick which just pushed it over the edge. Offense had a really hard time checking it, and fat teams were just dismantled by its coverage. Definitely the best offensive Pokemon of gen 6 by far. It set the bar for Speed tiers, and that's bad considering it was faster than Zam lol.
Clefable wasn't as good in XY as it was in ORAS because of Aegi and Mega Mawile, but it was still really solid and once those two left it was basically god tier for the rest of XY and into ORAS. I'm honestly not sure why it was put AFTER Lando-T, like wtf. Yeah Lando-T is really splashable but Clef's impact on the tier overall has been huge. It's easily the most consistent Pokemon this gen outside of Aegi, because it just does so much for teams and its ability to just BS it way through half the tier with its Calm Mind set is incredible. So many matches have been decided on Clef sweeps, and pretty much anything that is hard walled by Clef is automatically looked down upon because letting it set up is so dangerous. Clefable can do practically anything you want it to, and with its massive movepool it can be tailored to fit pretty much any current meta trend, such as running Flame on its CM set when offensive Steels were everywhere, or T-wave when half of its checks become set up fodder once they're paralyzed. Clef is a lot like Aegislash in how it is able to swing so many games in the player's favor, but it's balanced unlike Aegi so there's that.
Four and five were really hard for me, because both of these megas have easily been the most consistent this whole gen. I ultimately decided on Mega Scizor at 4 because Zard-X towards the middle of ORAS took a pretty big hit, whereas Mega Scizor has always remained dominant this whole gen. Mega Scizor to me defines gen 6 bulky offense. It has the perfect balance of bulk and offensive presence, and with its great typing it's a perfect fit for so many teams because it just patches up a lot of weaknesses. It was very popular in XY because it could check Aegislash and set up on it, but as the meta game evolved it became more offensive to deal with shit like Heatran or Rotom-W when they started popping up more. Mega Scizor has always been a huge problem for many teams, and it's common knowledge that if you don't pack multiple answers to it, you're almost always going to lose. It's definitely been the most consistent mega this entire gen. I've already talked about Zard-X.
Mega Sableye is honestly not that great of a Pokemon, but it's impact on the tier has been very significant. Outside of specific Pokemon, most of OU's common rockers will almost always fail to get up hazards versus Mega Sab teams, and any that do are usually handled by something like Duggy. Its centralized the hazard metagame to a point where it can win games just by team preview, especially when some teams depend a lot on hazards to sweep. It's such a bullshit Pokemon that just has to sit there and spam Recover or Knock Off to keep all forms of hazards off the field, and with its typing/bulk it's not that easy to kill. No Pokemon this gen has been able to centralize the entry hazard meta as much as Sab, except for maybe....
Deoxys-S wasn't around as long as most of the things on this list, but when it was around Deo-S created an entirely different metagame. Our current metagame is slower paced and focuses more on bulky hard hitters, but Deo-S meta was extremely offensive and fast paced. Deo's ability to get hazards on the field is insane, because it's amazing how much SR and 1 layer of Spikes can do for something like RP Lando or CB Genesect. Suddenly the Pokemon that were meant to check stuff like Mega Mawile or Lando were now 2HKOed, and anything that could cause you to lose momentum could single handedly lose you the game. Stall and even balance teams were almost unviable at this point in the meta, and shit like CB Talonflame, RP Lando, Mega Pinsir, Mega Mawile, Greninja, Genesect, and Bisharp reigned supreme. Speaking of which, the coveted DeoSharp made removing hazards even more difficult, thus making Deo-S that much better. I'm honestly in shock that it's not even on this list at all. It was around for quite a bit during XY, so it's not like we didn't get to see it in action.
Landorus lol, I already explained it above. Fuck this thing though.
I put Goth below Mega Sableye simply because most of its major hype came from the core it formed with Mega Sableye, and how it was used to trap everything that gave Mega Sab and its teammates issues. Without Mega Sab, Goth was still influential, but Sab really put it in the spotlight. Still, its ability to trap major stall breakers such as Manaphy and Mega Heracross was insane, as well as shit like CM Clef or Heatran. Even outside of stall it was still able to trap anything that gave your team issues, and while it wasn't very splashable, it still did its job every time. I don't think it was more influential than Mega Sableye, but during its stint in OU, it was very influential in that period of time.
Honestly #10 was a toss up between a lot of things for me, mainly Manaphy, Torn-T, and Chomp. Ultimately I decided on Lando-T because much like Clef it's always been very good for most of the gen, and its impact is huge on a team building standpoint because of how splashable it is and how it practically holds the tier together. I think team building would feel a lot different and more restrictive without Lando-T, and that is enough to give it a spot on my list.
Sorry for the wall. Hope some people learned from it though!
