Charizard

[Joim]

Charizard used to be kinda a joke. Owned by Rock Slide, destroyed by Surf and Muddy Water, just basically useless. But things have changed. A new dawn is upon us, a dawn in which Charizard is now the best sun setter and a dangerous physical attacker with a very good fire/dragon typing. Welcome to the best amongst the best on Doubles, old friend. When I was 12 I knew you were destined to greatness. You really were.

Proposed sets

Mega-Y, the Special holy god of Sunny Day
such flames (Charizard) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast / Hidden Power Ground / Roost
- Protect

The holy god damn grail. Sun teams have gained a lot of strength with the addition of Mega Charizard Y. The ability to set its weather after the turn has began is only matched by Mega Abomasnow, who will have severe problems to upkeep it against Charizard - Charizard's teammate can Fake Out its Trick Room teammate (why would you use aboma otherwise) and it's either OHKOd turn 1 or turn 2 so it can't stay giving you advantage; and Mega Tyranitar, which means your rival is not using Mega Garchomp nor Mega Scizor nor Mega Kangaskhan and is OHKOd by Hitmontop or Focus Blast

Its Heat Wave in sun coming from 159 base SpA can destroy even resistant foes, and then you have the chance to burn them. Of course not all shines with Charizard, unless it runs HP Ground or the shaky accuracy Focus Blast Heatran can wall it or use its Heat Wave to buff its own attacks, any Rock Slide will obliterate it (even if the Rock Slide user is at -1 or even -2, uninvested 78 Def ain't much). That's why you usually team him up with Hitmontop and Heatran, the first can Fake Out troublesome foes and destroy Tyranitar and Terrakion, while the latter uses sun on its own Heat Wave.

Mega-X, the wannabe Kyurem-B with actually good typing
so claws (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Rush / Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake / Rock Slide / Crunch / Thunder Punch
- Protect

What Mega Charizard Y lacks, X has: good typing. Its newfound typing changes drastically Charizard's weaknesses and resistances, and its ability, Tough Claws, is basically Life Orb for physical attacks without recoil. Since you won't run mixed, that's excellent!

Dragon Rush is an excellent move, but you risk on its accuracy. You could use Victini as a teammate, but then you're both prone to get Earthquake'd and Rock Slide'd. Flare Blitz hits like a truck (but it's walled by Flash Fire friends) and either Earthquake or Rock Slide are the spread move of choice, even though both lack STAB; Rock Slide nails Mega Charizard Y and Earthquake Heatran, to name some of the top Doubles threats. Crunch is there or Cresselia and Reuniclus if you find yourself weak to them. Thunder Punch could be used to deal with Gyarados, which will switch in with intimidate and then try to maim it, but it's mostly too situational.

So, opinions? Sets? Ideas? More counters?

 

[Deoxymoron]

I think part of what makes Charizard so good is the fact that its two very powerful mega-evolutions have completely different counters. For instance, most Rotom-W will use Thunderbolt against a non-mega evolved Charizard because they expect MegaZard Y, but if you evolve into MegaZard X you actually resist the hit, can pull off a dragon dance and start wrecking. If the Rotom-W uses Hydro Pump, it can seriously hurt the MegaZard X, as he requires high HP to spam Flare Blitz, but it fails to 2HKO MegaZard Y in sun, who hits back hard with a Solarbeam.

Unfortunately, Charizard shares the downside of every pokemon only viable for its mega-evo: predictability. Although it does have two very different, very good Mega forms, it can't run Scarf or Specs or Sitrus or Assault Vest, or even too many different movesets. However, the strengths of both forms definitely outweigh the weaknesses.

 

[BLOOD TOTEM]

You can tell Charizard is a good Pokemon by the way people have adapted to handle it. Rotom-W is running 130 SDef EVs To survive a timid CharY Solarbeam, I've seen way more ScarTar being used and Heatran is absolutely everywhere.

I think one of the biggest draws to Mega Charizard X is the predictability of Mega Charizard Y. It's entirely possible to nail Pokemon like Heatran or Chandelure with Earthquake and then proceed to wreck havoc. I think for the most part ZardX is fairly unexplored; it would be interesting to see if a DD set has any place in the doubles metagame.

Tailwind is something I think Charizard Y can run effectively since it forces switches so well. Moves like Substitute also work well for it but the loss of coverage can be detrimental to it's performance.

 

[WinterWave]

Another thing about CharX is that it can play mindgames with people about which mega you actually are. Like Deoxymoron said, you can try to lure in an electric attack and mega evolve and dragon dance. It can actually work the other way around. Like when the other player thinks that charizard is mega evolving into CharX,you can mega evolve into CharY and start blasting things with VERY powerful sun boosted heat waves. like joim said, a 159 base special attack alone can kill a lot of things, but then add sun to that.

So Charizard is pretty much one of the most dominant pokemon in dubz right now, and it looks like it will stay that way.

 

[Xenon Blastiose]

Fanboys rejoice.

Seriously though, this thing is terrifying, mainly because of the unpredictability about which Mega it will have. Both Mega forms have completely different counters, and it is one of the most dominant Doubles Pokemon for good reason. Just think of the laughing stock you would have been 8 months ago if you'd said Charizard would be this good in any major metagame this generation.