Now that the frenzy (plant) of the Community Weekend has died down, it's time to sit back and take a cool, calm look at the effects of CP capped leagues for PvP.
Which Pokemon will shine in this format. Clearly, some of the stronger legendaries will be excluded from the Great League (GL) because of the 1500 CP cap. But I don't think that will matter.
What does matter, in my mind, are three things:
Resistances: The best resistances make for the best defense. This isn't capped by league, but by the game rules. Looks like Steel will finally have its day in the sun (or the snow, if you like).
Quality of moves: Shadow Ball >> Shadow Sneak, and so forth. Pokemon with strong moves will do better at the same CP. It's easy to scan the moves to see which are best and which pokemon have those moves.
These two make Metagross look like a big winner - one of the best moves in the game (Meteor Mash) and the multiple resistances of Steel and Psychic. Hope you all got yourselves set up with a couple of CP 1500 and CP 2500 Meteor Mashers. (Given the importance of Meteor Mash to the meta, it seems possible that Niantic will have to make it available somewhat often. Maybe another 'everyone' CD in six months, we'll see.)
Finally, stat shape: We don't know if defense will be better, attack, or stamina, or two of those three. Maybe Aggron will finally have a chance to shine - doesn't do well in DPS, but can take a lot of damage between the defense, stamina, and resistances (as long as they aren't attacking with Ground or Fighting). Or maybe the glass cannons will continue their run at the top. We won't know the answer to this until the mechanics of PvP come out.
So which unsung pokemon will be the heroes of capped PvP? Haunter? Scizor? Magnemite? Kingdra? Share your opinions so we all can get a jump on what to catch to get ready. And what CP ranges will land you just below or at CP 1500 and/or CP 2500?
(Obviously, Meteor Mash Metagross will be good. Don't bother starting with that one - everyone knows it.)
My first bet, not quite out yet, but coming to a community day near you in January (very probably). Feraligatr with Waterfall and Hydro Cannon. Decent typing, strong moves, and a good stat shape to crush things not weak to water.