So, I don't particularly have a lot to add to most of the moves that have been discussed. I'm big on precedence for these updates, so I am myeh towards Solar Blade, but it and Ice Fang I can tolerate, along with Power Trip and Natural Gift. I am against Fire coverage of any kind, Will-o-Wisp, Belch and Recycle (I find them neither particularly flavor fitting nor with any competitive reason to be added), Grassy Terrain (Can we go one update without a terrain suggestion? Seriously?), Infestation (That can theoretically lead to stall sets like Synth, Infest, Toxic, Knock Off; which isn't particularly appealing to me), and Parting Shot (That's Kerf's thing and I don't wanna intrude).
However, there is one move that I particularly
loathe the idea of giving to Malaconda, and that is Strength Sap. I hadn't seen any particular cases against it, so I felt I might as well make my best shot at one. I will try and not focus on the fact that it is currently a signature move, because I know that argument is irrelevant for many people, but for those that do care, there's your reminder.
This is probably going to be a fairly general argument as well, so, just a fair warning. Anyways, my main point throughout this is really going to focus on how Strength Sap is a generically better Synthesis, and how that may not be something we want for Malaconda. To further understand, let's break it down into its different components: Healing, Attack Drop, and PP.
Starting out with the most obvious element, healing, it has already been noted in Deck Knight's post above that Strength Sap (Hereafter denoted by SSap) heals not by percentage, like most if not all other healing moves, but instead based off of the target's attack stat. To look at the ramifications of this shift, it's first critical to look at what this move can be expected to be healing on any given turn. To do this, we really need to look at the average attack stat of all mons in the metagame, from the weakest physical attacker to the strongest. For the current OU tier + CAP (Excluding Mega Abomasnow / Manectric / Tyranitar, as they were only just released) the average base physical attack stat is 98.5333... (99 for all-intensive purposes), which is slightly lower than the pure OU average which sits at 102.6-ish. The more you know, right!
Anyways, 20 minutes of calculation aside, what does this number tell us? Well, with some help from the handy dandy damage calc, we find out that base 99 Attack varies from a minimum of 182 (0 IV, EV, and harmful nature) to a max of 326 (252/31/helpful nature). In terms of Malaconda's health, a 252 HP investment means that from the average mon in the meta, Malaconda will heal from 42% minimum to 75% maximum. Probability-wise, averagemon will lead to a SSap heal that heals at least as well as Harvest-Synthesis, but up to Drought-Synthesis levels. Of course, this is an average calculation, so of course there will be lower attack stat mons that heal FAR less, but those are generically few. Disregarding Smeargle and Chansey as pure outliers, the lowest Atk you're likely-ish to find is around 45-50 base (which is a minimum 20% heal for those wondering). Overall, the healing is going to average out to be just as good as Synthesis and occasionally better when using SSap, and we haven't even talked about its other effects yet.
The second notable fact about SSap is that it drops the attack stat of the opponent by one after healing. Again, Deck Knight's post covered some excellent examples of how this works to cripple incoming physical attackers. However, what I would ask the body (is this considered a body? I dunno!) is whether we really want Malaconda to be able to cripple the damage output of physical attackers, Pokémon which are likely to be coming in against Malaconda anyways, as special attackers often can't break through Mala without strong, super effective STABs. I think one calc, while not being at all relevant in terms of practicality, should be brought up here just to exemplify how powerful SSap can be. The following is a Bulky SD Scizor set from Smogon that theoretically came in on a SSap. Let's say it wants to get out using U-Turn, predicting a reasonable swap. From the first SSap, Mala is at full health, and Scizor is at -1 Atk. Look at what happens if Malaconda is just partially physically invested:
-1 0 Atk Scizor-Mega U-turn vs. 252 HP / 120 Def Malaconda: 364-432 (83.8 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Only partially invested physically, Malaconda lives. Now, obviously this isn't a practical example, as I've mentioned (and I think the reason is rather obvious), but now let's assume Scizor U-Turns and Mala lives. This means Mala can have just SSapped again on the U-Turn, getting back from the brink of death to anywhere from around 30% to possibly 100% depending on what comes in. One would think the logical player would send in a special attacker, or whatever has the least attack just in case, but in the heat of battle, who knows what mistakes could be made. In general, I think this calc, though not really feasible, borders on showing what a fully physically invested Malaconda could do with Strength Sap, spreading Glare, Knock Off, or what have you throughout a team that it might not have been able to otherwise. I personally do not find this a good result. Malaconda is already good at its niches. It does not need SSap to do those roles well. I do not see it as an addition we should be seriously considering because of how it can potentially screw with some physical matchups. Let's remember, this calc was a partially defensive investment against a common 4x effective move coming off of an original base 150 attack. What it could do in matchups against neutral-hitting or 2x effective non-STAB scenarios could be more leeway than we want to give it.
Lastly, I'll just throw in a note that Deck Knight also mentioned in his earlier post. SSap has twice as much PP (16) as Synthesis (8), which is a potentially dangerous increase, giving Malaconda twice as many times to heal at potentially Synthesis levels.
Overall, SSap gives Malaconda a move that heals, on average, at Synthesis levels, while simultaneously fiddling with incoming physical attackers and having twice as many chances to use the move. I personally think this combination on Malaconda is not only unnecessary, but extremely viable. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it booted Synthesis right off of Harvest sets because of its ability to mess with opposing Pokémon, kind of like a choose-your-own Intimidate. For these reasons, I simply cannot support SSap on Malaconda.
Sidenote: If anyone wants to check my math in the first section about healing, please feel free. I may have missed a better way of calculation that would reveal a different perspective on the move. .3.