I don't want to go too deeply into Naganadel since all the main points I wanted to talk about have basically been covered in other posts, but Naganadel basically forces one or two of a small subset of ou viable mons on every team. I've found that this tends to restrict me to very similar cores on every team, and its a pain to avoid using bulky ttar on every team rn because it just offers so much role compression. Originally I tried to just settle with getting damage on setup + priority + sand chip with CB Tar, but I was forced to switch to AV because I couldn't handle Nagandel consistently enough without having to sack a mon every time it came in, and this really hurt my ability to break bulkier teams. Naganadel is definitely quite restricting even if it isn't outright broken, and I feel it is having an unhealthy polarizing effect on the tier.
Stakataka seems quite good to me, although one of its niches rn is checking Naganadel, which will probably mean its value will decrease if naga is banned like I expect. I think full TR teams are still meh and not that much better with Staka, but I really like Staka on BO, where I feel an OTR set can be just as good or even better than CB at times, mostly because the Z-move keeps it very threatening, and also because with TR you can make better use of attack boosts since you won't be forced out as often after a kill.
Regarding Blacephalon, I'm struggling with it right now simply because AV TTar is way too common. At least with a choice specs set and appropriate coverage, Specs Blace can try to get past CB Tar with some hazards damage, but right now it just can't do anything bar wisp or trick. I'm really interested to see how the meta will shift after a potential naga ban, as Blaca's 3 main sets (Specs, Scarf, and CM Ghostium) are all quite dangerous vs teams without tyranitar.
My experience with Kommo-o in ou has been pretty lackluster so far. The biggess issue is getting off a clangorous soulblaze vs a team with a fairy type (you need +atk iron tail to have a < 50% chance to 2hko clef, for example), it's outrun by every relevant scarfer, and it quickly weakens its defenses when using moves like CC and Clanging Scales, leaving itself open to priority. I haven't really toyed with many of the new defog mons especially since I find it hard to fit on defensive lando, but in my experience playing against defog gliscor, it can be quite troublesome especially if your rocker is a defensive lando. I'm also struggling to fit knock off on mons like pex because its moveslots are all so important, although I think scarf kartana can make use of knock if Giga Impact / Aerial Ace / Defog isn't needed, especially since it can ohko blacephalon with it. I'm interested to know if anyone has tried out mega sharpedo with liquidation; the extra BP probably doesn't make a huge difference but I remember shark was quite good around the release of SM and it would be cool to see it rising again, especially since mons like Tar, SDef Tran, and SDef Pex are so common rn thanks to naga and can be taken advantage of (Mega Gyara should also be able to take advantage of these mons and would be better vs bulkier teams).
Also, Gary gave me permission to post a video I made that is relevant to the discussion, so I'd like to share my moveset guide for Blacephalon. In the vid I go over Blacephalon's best sets and options and discuss its place in the meta (hint: Tyranitar). I'd really appreciate it if you checked it out :D
Stakataka seems quite good to me, although one of its niches rn is checking Naganadel, which will probably mean its value will decrease if naga is banned like I expect. I think full TR teams are still meh and not that much better with Staka, but I really like Staka on BO, where I feel an OTR set can be just as good or even better than CB at times, mostly because the Z-move keeps it very threatening, and also because with TR you can make better use of attack boosts since you won't be forced out as often after a kill.
Regarding Blacephalon, I'm struggling with it right now simply because AV TTar is way too common. At least with a choice specs set and appropriate coverage, Specs Blace can try to get past CB Tar with some hazards damage, but right now it just can't do anything bar wisp or trick. I'm really interested to see how the meta will shift after a potential naga ban, as Blaca's 3 main sets (Specs, Scarf, and CM Ghostium) are all quite dangerous vs teams without tyranitar.
My experience with Kommo-o in ou has been pretty lackluster so far. The biggess issue is getting off a clangorous soulblaze vs a team with a fairy type (you need +atk iron tail to have a < 50% chance to 2hko clef, for example), it's outrun by every relevant scarfer, and it quickly weakens its defenses when using moves like CC and Clanging Scales, leaving itself open to priority. I haven't really toyed with many of the new defog mons especially since I find it hard to fit on defensive lando, but in my experience playing against defog gliscor, it can be quite troublesome especially if your rocker is a defensive lando. I'm also struggling to fit knock off on mons like pex because its moveslots are all so important, although I think scarf kartana can make use of knock if Giga Impact / Aerial Ace / Defog isn't needed, especially since it can ohko blacephalon with it. I'm interested to know if anyone has tried out mega sharpedo with liquidation; the extra BP probably doesn't make a huge difference but I remember shark was quite good around the release of SM and it would be cool to see it rising again, especially since mons like Tar, SDef Tran, and SDef Pex are so common rn thanks to naga and can be taken advantage of (Mega Gyara should also be able to take advantage of these mons and would be better vs bulkier teams).
Also, Gary gave me permission to post a video I made that is relevant to the discussion, so I'd like to share my moveset guide for Blacephalon. In the vid I go over Blacephalon's best sets and options and discuss its place in the meta (hint: Tyranitar). I'd really appreciate it if you checked it out :D