The battle of the legendaries has returned to GBL with even more legendaries. Since Season 1, some big waves have happened in the Master League meta. Fire Punch and Aqua Tail gave Groudon and Palkia improved speed, consistency, and baiting abilities. Reshiram and Zekrom were released with Kyurem soon to follow, and Mewtwo can now carry the double legacy moveset with Elite TMs.

 
 
 

Fire Punch in particular has upended the ML meta. Groudon breaks apart the old Dialga, Giratina Origin, Melmetal Rock-Paper-Scissors loop, beating the two Steels more consistently than before, and significantly threatening the ghost. It carries bigger stats and a better fast move than its predecessors in this role, such as Snorlax or Rhyperior.

 
 
 

Kyogre was already a decent teammate for Dialga because nothing reliably beats both, but Giratina Origin was the more common teammate bolstered by the better fast move, slightly better performance against Melmetal, and winning matchup against Kyogre itself. The new Groudon threat has also helped elevate Kyogre’s position in the meta.

 
 
 

Among the new dragons, Reshiram has an awkward position. Its fire typing gives it poor Groudon and Kyogre matchups and doesn't improve its Togekiss matchup significantly beyond Dialga's. However, the powerful Overheat and good coverage between its moves allow it to share with Dialga the distinction of beating the entire core meta with a 1 to 0 shield advantage.

 

Palkia and Zekrom are more conventional dragons, with clear wins against Kyogre. Palkia has few weaknesses and widely unresisted coverage, and Zekrom has access to the fast and powerful Wild Charge. Palkia has the better Groudon matchup, winning unless it gets both of its shields baited by Fire Punch. Unusually for a Dragon Breath user, Zekrom has a solid Melmetal matchup, taking the 1 and 0 shield scenarios without needing baits.

 
 
 

Kyurem is a dragon with weaker stats and liability Ice typing. Now that Icy Wind has been removed from its movepool, it does little to stand out in Master League.

 
 
 

Mewtwo has always been threatening to a few parts of the ML meta. Its high attack stat, high energy generation, and diverse coverage let it cause major damage to any member of the meta. Mewtwo can now pair Psystrike—its fastest and most powerful move—with Shadow Ball for coverage against the Giratina threat. It doesn’t have clear wins that are easy to depict in a diagram, but it stakes a claim as the safest switch in Master League.

 
 
 

This graphic depicts the relationship between some of the prominent parts of the new meta.

 
 
 

Solid arrows depict wins in all even shield scenarios without need for baits. Some of them may represent closer matchups than others. For example, Melmetal brings down Palkia (without needing to use Superpower) but has less health remaining than Dragonite does when it brings down Groudon.

 
 
 

Dotted arrows indicate a favourable matchup, but one that doesn't hold in every shield scenario, usually due to bait dependency. An arrow that runs through another Pokémon indicates the Pokémon beats everything further along the arrow. For example, Dialga beats all the other dragons, and Dragonite beats the remaining ones (though more narrowly). Togekiss and Melmetal beat Dragonite and Palkia, and Melmetal also beats Togekiss.

 
 
 

The weird counterparts in the boxes below have similarities but don't share every arrow. For example, Giratina Altered loses to Kyogre in no shields, and has a mixed matchup against Dragonite. Metagross needs to bait to bring down Dialga with two shields, and tends to lose to Palkia.

 
 
 

Giratina Origin is depicted according to the traditional Ominous Wind + Shadow Ball moveset. Dragon Pulse gives it a better chance of bringing down other dragons with shields gone.