Hello everyone! After analyzing the post-DLC metagame and playtesting in practice, the council has decided to unanimously quickban Mega Alakazam.
Mega Alakazam has been a notable wallbreaker for a few generations now, taking advantage of a large majority of the defensive metagame, consisting of defensive staples such as Toxapex, Heatran, Tangrowth, and Tapu Fini, due to its great offensive prowess combined with good special bulk and access to reliable recovery and useful abilities in Magic Guard and Trace. However, with the shift to the DLC-metagame, it gained access to an extremely dangerous new asset in Nasty Plot, which allows it to abuse these passive Pokemon, as well as its tendency to force switches, to an entirely different extent.
After a Nasty Plot boost, previously good defensive counterplay to Mega Alakazam, such as Magearna, Corviknight, Mega Scizor, and Mega Metagross, crumble very easily to it. This leaves us with only three consistently good answers to the standard Nasty Plot / Psychic / Focus Blast / Recover set in Pursuit Aegislash, Calm Mind Mega Latias, and Mega Sableye, all of which come with a few drawbacks. The former lacks reliable recovery and takes over half from a boosted Psychic, which makes it very prone to chip damage and common Mega Alakazam teammates such as Tapu Lele and Magearna. Mega Latias, and basically any other Psychic-type, is prone to Pursuit trappers, while Mega Sableye is strictly limited to Stall teams. This in itself already testifies how unforgiving Mega Alakazam is to our defensive options, both in the teambuilder and in practice. Moreover, Mega Alakazam has proven quite convincingly that it can drop Recover for Shadow Ball on teams that do not require its staying prowess, which allows it to circumvent Psychic-types and Aegislash if it hasn't packed Shadow Sneak on top of Pursuit. On top of all, its blistering Speed tier, the highest relevant unboosted Speed tier in the metagame, makes it quite difficult to revenge kill Mega Alakazam outside of Choice Scarf users and priority. Furthermore, albeit niche and demanding, Expanding Force in conjunction with Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain further jeopardizes your chances of taking it on, shielding it from priority and achieving calcs such as:
+2 252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Expanding Force vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Aegislash-Shield in Psychic Terrain: 237-280 (90.8 - 107.2%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Expanding Force vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Chansey in Psychic Terrain: 405-477 (57.6 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Expanding Force vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Latias-Mega in Psychic Terrain: 224-264 (61.5 - 72.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
All in all, Mega Alakazam's ability to take advantage of a plethora of passive Pokemon, force switches, and capitalize on these traits with Nasty Plot boosts, after which it becomes a nightmare to check, was deemed incredibly unhealthy by the council. As a result, it has been quickbanned from National Dex, although it will be considered for a retest later if deemed worthwile.
Tagging The Immortal Kris
Thank you!