i do not agree, we have dealt with Zygarde for i think 3 years now and every time it has been manageable.
Zygarde has viable counters in the OU tier
- Landorus
- Clefable ( under most conditions)
- tangrowth
- Tapu Bulu
perhaps more that i am missing.
it does not have any real broken moves. Yes thousand arrows hits all mons in the game but the above mons can handle it. Sludge wave? why run that? Yes it gets quite a bit of decent utility moves in the form of substitute and glare/toxic but even then it is not too bad.
does not really get the movepool to deal with the above threats except the inaccurate iron tail for bulu and clefable.
Its ability is really bad....
Does this mon require unusual mons/sets to counter?: Not really the above mons are or were pretty common mons in the tier.
Alright, so I had a look at your list, and it seems that the mons in this list only counter some Zygarde sets, while merely check others. I'll go through each one you listed in detail.
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Landorus-T - it's only a mere check to some sets. It can only come in about once or twice and gets easily chipped down because it doesn't have any reliable recovery, especially if it's up against a Choice Band variant. SubCoil variants also risk getting hit by Glare and giving Zygarde momentum, while in return Lando gets crippled and loses a lot of staying power.
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Clefable - one of the best tools you can use to dispose of Zygarde. While Choice Band sets are somewhat troublesome for Clefable to deal with, it does come with reliable recovery in the form of Soft-Boiled, and Unaware walls Coil/DD sets. In a way, it counters some sets while merely checking others. Unfortunately, it should be noted that Unaware sets will lose to Toxic. Some Zygarde sets try to tech for Clefable and similar ones by running Z-Iron Tail.
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Tangrowth - another standout means of dealing with Zygarde. Completely no-sells Thousand Arrows thanks to bulk but again, it still loses to Toxic. Z-Outrage is another problem for Tangrowth, but that set has fallen off a lot because it provides no means to deal with Clefable, one of its strongest checks/counters.
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Tapu Bulu - Bulk Up sets beat Zygarde one-on-one. Swords Dance sets are also a good tool for getting rid of Coil variants because you'll be able to outdo Zygarde's defense boosts. But then again, some Zygarde sets will try to tech for Bulu by running Z-Iron Tail.
Also, the problem with Zygarde here is not the fact that the checks/counters listed here are actually good mons in OU, it's the fact that Zygarde suffers from "counter of the week" syndrome. The sheer versatility and movepool that Zygarde provides makes it really hard to check/counter on paper, because you can't tell what set the Zygarde is running until too late (although it can be possible to deduce the set based on the team makeup, for example if you see a Toxapex, it's likely to be a Substitute variant). Several checks/counters have been used along the course of the tier history, such as fast Ice Beam Mew, defensive Choice Scarf Lando and Curse Mega Scizor - and now the latest counter is Tangrowth. But time and time again, a new set rises in popularity, designed to deal with its counters. This time around, some people are running RestTalk sets to try and stall out Tangrowth, as well as the aforementioned Toxic.
And while you do mention that the checks/counters are actually good in OU, the problem is that sometimes games will play themselves out because they're running a Zygarde set that your team can't check/counter. It becomes less "oh, I have Tangrowth, this should be easy" and more "oh god, I hope he's not a Toxic variant, otherwise I've lost..." and in a way Zygarde is basically impossible to counter with one Pokemon alone. Because of this sheer versatility, teams have had to resort to running 2 or 3 checks/counters to Zygarde, which severely constricts teambuilding even if the Pokemon are good, and that still doesn't cover all the sets. In a way it's quite similar to the Mega Metagross suspect back in early SM, where Mega Metagross was just so dang versatile and you can't tell its moves until too late. This again, meant you had to bring 2 or 3 mons just to deal with it.
Also if we get rid of Zygarde, i think heatran will need to tested at some point because Zygarde hard stops it in most cases. Without Zygarde, heatran becomes so much better.
I actually see the same happening. If Zygarde leaves, Heatran loses a switch-in, and will probably end up defining the tier. As a consequence, Ash-Greninja usage will probably rise as well, and if it gets too much for OU to handle then they'll probably both get suspected. Garchomp usage will also probably rise because that thing can come in on Firium variants or standard trapper variants, but it still has trouble switching in on a Steelium Z. Now that I mention it, I kinda see specially defensive Landorus-T becoming a thing...to check Heatran...
