Looks like I have embarassed myself a little bit... also I meant only Zard X has more narrowed counterplay, not every 'mons I have mentioned...
Probably cause you are watching 1300+, it's not really representative of meta trends at that level. Honestly its extremely frail, and kind of useless until it evolves. Bulky Offence/Balance seems to be the best/most common archetype at the moment, which means a lot of hazards that Greninja isn't a fan of and also the Protean set is far better for setting spikes (in my opinion). Toxapex is everywhere and stops any Ninja variant in its tracks, except Protean with Extrasensory. Scarf Kartana is another answer that has rose in usage significantly, I don't think Knock Off made Kartana that much better, but it certainly rose usage.
This is the OU forum so I doubt there's anyone here who can give you a proper answer, maybe try asking in the Orange Islands version of this thread (Orange Islands is the ingame subforum btw)
While this isn't really a question for OU I can answer that. Pretty much the Pokemon doesn't perform well enough in OU UU or RU to get enough usage. The reason Scrafty is not PU is because it does get enough usage on the NU ladder to be there.
For lando lures, theres ice beam ttar, ice punch mawile, and dragonium zygarde does a pretty good job. Theres more, but thats all i can think of off the top of my head.
Timid:240/0/156/0/0/112 15.828%
Terrains are pretty mediocre as moves in general so I wouldn't advice using them on any mon, let alone a niche mon like Alakazam, if you want Terrain support for a mon just pair it with a Tapu that can summon it like Tapu Lele.
I'm fairly certain that they would be tiered differently, mainly because that's how we do it with hoopa, rotoms and Alolan forms, but those are pre-set forms and not influenced by item like the examples you listed. If there ever was something like silvally where it changes forms by item and the forms were different enough for different tiers, I imagine some of the forms would be banned in a tier and others wouldn't. The best example I can think of is the unofficial Uber BL, where you can use some bad Arceus forms but the good ones like ground and fairy are banned.
As far as I can tell, only stat or type changes count as different enough to be a separate form, while having one different move or ability generally is now. This is probably because stats and typing are the most defining parts of a mon and a different ability or move is pretty much no different then running a different set of the same mon (unaware vs magic guard clef to give an example). I hope this answers your question
Silvally forms are fundamentally different Pokemon due to the differences in typing; it affects not only the type of Multi-Attack but their defensive and offensive utility, so they have very different viabilities. For instance, some forms like Water and Steel have started to gain popularity in NU as Defoggers, whereas most other forms still aren’t really being used even in PU.
One thing to note is that non-item-based form changes that can take place in the midst of battle generally are ranked together as one Pokemon even if they result in dramatic stat changes (eg Meloetta and Aegislash).
Yeah my b. Should have clarified I meant outside of battle form changes. The only in-battle form changes that are tiered separate are megas, Ash greninja, and Zygarde Complete (?). The reason being that these form changes are permanent so it’s as if you’re using a different mon entirely.
Thanks for explaining, I was basically asking in a roundabout way if say, Genesect Burn could ever be OU because you know 1/4 of its moveset and item but now I understand its not a "true" form.
Actual stat / (insert pokemon name here) / Base Speed / Speed boosting/neutral/lowering nature / EVs / Boosts
Welcome to Smogon! Honestly, your guess is as good as ours--we're not affiliated with Nintendo or GameFreak, and whoever handles stat distribution and abilities over there rarely thinks with the singles competitive scene in mind. We just play the hand we're dealt.
