I don't really agree with some points brought up in this post (also like very delayed response but whatever)
there are two ways of blocking sap - via a naturally low attack stat, or via an ability. naturally low attack yields itself to blissey as a special wall and mega audino as either (usually physical; an attack stat of 112 is higher than blissey's but is still only giving arceus just over 25% back). the two main abilities used for sap are ooze and bounce. here's the issue:
- for special attackers, sapblocking really isn't functionally changing; the only real difference is that the punishment for getting the 50/50 wrong (bounce replacing ooze does not remove the 50/50) is reduced if the opponent is relying on sapblock via bounce rather than low attack. in the majority of cases, teams that want to block sap from special attackers with any consistency are going to use an attack-based blocker, and nothing's reasonably changing in that regard. arceus-ghost is also unlikely to bag a win from this, as bounce yveltal beats in the exact same way ooze yveltal did, and yveltal's whole thing in the recent meta has been "i have a spare mon slot and need a ghost check with some utility" which doesn't seem likely to change.
- for physical attackers, the main change is the 50/50 situation described above. due to them sort of needing their attack stat, the momentum swing in favour of the bounce user is greater than for special attackers (since a bounced sap means, with almost certainty, you're getting a free switch). all this really changes is the sap user having to reposition their progress maker again rather than it instantly dropping if they guess wrong; undeniably better, but ultimately still down to a 50/50. for things like garchomp whose walls naturally have low attack, like mega audino, expect basically no change.
tl;dr here is
ooze's removal doesn't magically fix sapblocking; you're still getting blocked largely the exact same as before, but on the occasion you do run into bounce then the only change is that getting the still-present 50/50 wrong is less punishing. diancie ban freeing up a load of physical attackers also doesn't exactly ease how necessary sap is either.
To me, there are pretty clear differences between the 3 primary sapblock methods (Ooze, Statbased, Bounce) that make Ooze standout as "bad" while the other two are more reasonably healthy and competitive. In other words, Ooze is the only unhealthy form of sapblocking and its removal does fix sapblocking by making it more competitive.
Firstly, statbased is pretty limited in options. There are very limited viable mons that have low enough attack to sapblock, and of those even fewer can hard sapblock, as even lowish attack mons like MAud still provide a decent amount of health to the sap user that gives them leeway to play. Thus, the only true statbased sapblocker that is meta is Blissey, which has the highly exploitable defense stat, making any physically oriented sap user impossible to sapblock though Blissey.
Then, for the difference in interaction between Bounce and Ooze, consider the following scenarios:
1. Positive matchup for sap user.
If sap user is physically oriented, the matchup against Bounce is a bit worse, but still better than Ooze. Sapping into a bounce most of the time would force the sap user to switch out unless its a 4x weak matchup or something. However, this still gives the sap user the opportunity to come in later and make another prediction to heal up if the player somehow generates that opportunity, as opposed to Ooze straight up killing said mon.
If sap user is specially oriented, then even if the Bounce mon switches into the sap, it still has to play a dangerous 50/50 the following turn, as opposed to Ooze straight up killing said mon and turning it into a true 50/50. Obviously if the Bounce mon switches into an attack then it is a good result for the sap user.
2. Neutral matchup.
Kind of similar to above, if you end up sapping on Bounce you lose momentum and have to figure out a way to heal up the mon later without losing to the offensive threat (which would involve some accurate predicts as well), but at least you are not losing the mon immediately.
3. Bad matchup for sap user.
This is over for the sap user either way.
Scenario 1 is the most important difference between Bounce and Ooze. Without Ooze it is possible to prep for certain common Bounce mons or have your sap users cover a wide range of Bounce mons (e.g. not have all your sap mons get walled by Bounce Audino or something) while with Ooze even with prep you still cannot be safe in game. One example I have regarding this was when I used Ooze Yveltal a while back and forced 50/50s against stuff like Sap Miraidon and Fairyceus that have no business existing when Yveltal hard loses to both if it was Bounce.
===============================
Regarding current meta, played quite a few games recently and tried some stuff, observations so far
Offensive meta is very diverse currently, there aren't really any clear standout options, and stuff like Ashgren, Necro, Zam, Flutter, Chomp, and others are all great choices. Ashgren in particular is pretty strong because it can play physical or mixed (special is very specific) while the others are more or less specialized since SpA Necro is competing hard against Zam. Flutter is interesting because Moongeist is a broke move but from playing with Flare Boost set (and Specs previously) it actually lacks power to hit OHKO/2HKOs because of not running Astral, and requires strong Knock Off support to prevent being farmed by RegenVests into Imp/RK.
Magic Guard is really good and a lot of stuff can viably run it including dragons and waters. Dodge every form of chip, use Mortal Spin to advantageously dodge Para and Burn, free item choice which includes free Life Orb damage boost. For Waters it also enables a spammable Wave Crash. Just generally easy to fit as a supporting offensive option that provides a degree of defensive utility, can improof stuff, and helps switch into annoying stuff for momentum (or to not lose it). A pretty easy generic structure is breaker MG FurScales additional defensive Imp.
Defensive meta sees the reintroduction of some things that were obsolete in the prior MMX DeoA Diancie meta, while the only notable mon that phases out is Poisonceus, overall meaning a more diverse defensive meta to try to handle the diverse offensive meta. Moongeist and Sunsteel do have an impact on defensive meta by encouraging resists for the respective FurScales ability.
Also stay tuned for a Resources overhaul soontm with an updated VR, Role Compendium, Speed tiers, and analyses will also open soon.
