Haters gonna hate. I love you but please get the fuck out of this tier.
Alakazam for Offensive characteristic
Out of all the Alakazam sets, I find these to be the most broken/destructive.
Alakazam@Life Orb
Nature:Modest
Ability:Synchronize
Ev's:4HP/252SpA/252Spe
-Substitute
-Psychic
-Signal Beam / Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
Alakazam@Leftovers
Nature:Timid / Modest
Ability:Inner Focus / Synchronize
Ev's:4HP/252SpA/252Spe
-Calm Mind
-Encore
-Psychic
-Signal Beam / Focus Blast
Now, I just want to get this out there that in this meta ALAKAZAM DOESN'T NEED TO RUN TIMID. Risking a Speed tie with Sceptile isn't worth it, and Dugtrio will most likely attempt to Sucker Punch allowing you to Encore/Substitute and defeat it anyway. Ambipom will only attempt to Fake Out, where Synchronize versions (even Timid) will switch while the Inner Focus variant can take the hit and KO. Risking the Speed tie with Scyther/Mismagius isn't great either, but the added power will help you immensely. Now then...
One look at Alakazam's stats will tell you one thing, that it's a glass canon. Alakazam's high Speed and Special Attack is cursed with its low defenses. The problem with Alakazam is that it hits too hard and has just the right amount of coverage to easily sweep through the tier. The most common way of eliminating Alakazam is through priority/revenge killing, WHICH IS NOT AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO HANDLE IT. On top of most priority users and revenge killers being unable to switch-in (calcs below), Alakazam's utility move in Substitute protects it from priority, and Alakazam can easily attain that Substitute due to its sheer force causing switches (Venusaur, Blaziken, Rotrom, etc..). So essentially, you're basically sacrificing one Pokemon each time Alakazam switches in, JUST TO FORCE IT OUT.
Here are some common users of priority in UU.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 4/0 Ambipom = 103.4% - 122%
Ambipom can not switch-in whatsoever, and Alakazam can just switch out of Fake Out, which means Alakazam eliminated a Pokemon and is still in the match.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 120/0 Arcanine = 74.4% - 87.5%
Pretty much a guaranteed OHKO with Rocks. Arcanine can NOT switch-in, and can only force out Alakazam with Extremespeed, but he's still in the match.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 252/0 Azumarill = 64.6% - 76%
Now we're slightly getting somewhere. Azu can switch in ONCE on Zam and force it out, but cannot switch in again after that into ANY ATTACK.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 4/0 Dugtrio = 100% (embarrassing)
Dugtrio can't switch in, and as it attempts to Sucker Punch, Alakazam will just Substitute/Encore and eliminate it.
Modest LO Psychic vs 4/0 Hitmonlee = 100%
Yeah, Hitmonlee can try to revenge with Sucker Punch but it's most likely not going too.
Modest LO Psychic vs 252/0 Hitmontop = 100%
Can't switch in, Sucker Punch will most likely fail to Zam's utility move, not reliable. It can get some damage in with Bullet Punch though.
Modest LO Psychic vs 72/0 Kabutops = 103.2% - 121.9%
Same with Arcanine/Ambipom
Modest LO Psychic vs. 4/0 Nidoking = 100%
Loses to Zam's utility move, not reliable.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 0/4 Scyther = 92.2% - 108.9%
Can't switch-in, will attempt to QA which Zam can take if healthy enough or just switch out of.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 4/0 Toxicroak = lol
Toxicroak is in the same spot as Hitmonlee/Nidoking
So as you can see, this "common way" of eliminating Alakazam with priority is extremely UNRELIABLE, and forces you to sacrifice a Pokemon JUST TO FORCE IT OUT. Alakazam may also be behind a Substitute or utilize Encore against Sucker Punchers, so these Pokemon are hardly capable of handling Zam. One time "checks" maybe, but we need COUNTERS.
Now I left out a few priority users who fall into a different category. They fare slightly better because they have a Pursuit/Sucker Punch combination.
Modest LO Signal Beam vs 4/0 Absol = 133.6% - 157.2%
So Absol can only switch into Psychic, and will have to play mind games with Pursuit/Sucker Punch. If Alakazam has Encore, it wins. If Alakazam has Subsitute, it will most likely win.
Modest LO Signal Beam vs. 4/0 Houndoom49.7% - 58.6%
Modest LO Focus Blast vs. 4/0 Houndoom 158.9% - 187%
This is probably the best we've seen so far. Even with SR down Houndoom can survive a Signal Beam, but it can't survive a Focus Blast. If Alakazam has Encore, it wins. If Alakazam manages to get a Substitute, it most likely wins.
Spiritomb will be left for the defensive section
So now that we've handled the offensive "checks," lets examine some defensive Pokemon in the tier and how they fare against Alakazam.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 252/216+ Altaria = 43.5% - 51.7%
+1 Timid Psychic vs. 252/216 Altaria = 45.8% - 54.2%
2HKO'd with SR. Altaria can't even attempt to Roost stall because of Special Defense drops or Encore from the CM set.
Modest LO Focus Blast vs. 0/252+ Chansey = 41.8% - 49.3%
+1 Timid Focus Blast vs. 0/252+ Chansey = 44% - 51.8%
+1 Timid Psychic vs. 0/252+ Chansey = 24.8% - 29.2%
Chansey, the premier special wall in UU, is 2HKO'd by Alakazam's Focus Blast. If you get a lucky miss on the Substitute set, you can force it out, but good luck trying to Softboiled against the Encore set. The Psychic calc was to show that with a bit of hazards, even Signal Beam CM + Encore Zam can defeat Chansey by forcing it to recover and gaining a free Calm Mind as it switches, and will be too powerful for Chansey to take on when it returns.
Modest LO Focus Blast vs. 252/212+ Clefable = 78.2% - 92.4%
Modest LO Psychic vs. 252/212+ Clefable = 43.7% - 51.8%
Timid +1 Focus Blast vs. 252/212+ Clefable = 81.7% - 96.4%
Timid +1 Psychic vs. 252/212+ Clefable = 45.9% - 54.3%
Clefable is KO'd by a combination of Focus Blast + Psychic. It can't even Wish stall because Focus Blast outdamages the recovery. Softboiled variants are even worse.
Modest LO Focus Blast vs. 252/244+ Drapion = 48.3% - 57%
Timid +1 Focus Blast vs. 252/244+ Drapion = 52.3% - 62.2%
2HKO'd all the time. Drapion can handle the Encore set decently, but loses to the Substitute set.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 40/252+ Lanturn = 45.9% - 54.1%
Timid +1 Psychic vs. 40/252+ Lanturn = 48.6% - 57.1%
2HKO'd most of the time by rocks. Lanturn can't even paralyze the Substitute set because of well...Sub. It can paralyze the Encore set but after that it's dead.
Modest LO Psychic vs. 248/0 Miltoic = 45.3% - 53.7%
Modest LO Psychic vs. 252/56+ Milotic = 39.1% - 46.4%
Timid +1 Psychic vs. 248/0 Milotic = 47.6% - 56.5%
Timid +1 Psychic vs. 252/56+ Milotic = 41.1% - 48.7%
Milotic, the premier wall of the tier, can't even stand up to Zam. Don't bother switching in your Bold Milotic into Zam, it's 2HKO'd. Calm variants fare a bit better; it can outstall Subzam (unless Zam gets a crit/special fall), but loses to CM + Encore Zam even with Haze.
Modest LO Focus Blast vs. 252/156+ Registeel = 61% - 72%
+1 Timid Focus Blast vs. 252/156+ Registeel = 63.7% - 75.3%
Another premier wall in the tier, Registeel, is 2HKO'd by Focus Blast all the time. Substitute can prevent Paralysis, and Alakazam can survive an Iron Head. Registeel fares a bit better against the CM set, especially if it's using Signal Beam, but I wouldn't count Registeel as a counter to Alakazam at all.
Modest LO Signal Beam vs. 212/252+ Slowking = 42.2% - 50%
+1 Timid Signal Beam vs. 212/252+ Slowking = 44.3% - 52.6%
This is rare anyway, but might as well. Slowking is 2HKO'd some of the time by a LO Signal Beam, so it's a shaky switch-in. It's decent enough to recover stall, I guess. Slowking always loses to the CM set.
Modest LO Signal Beam vs. 252/0 Spiritomb = 36.8% - 43.4%
Modest LO Signal Beam vs. 208/116+ Spiritomb = 31.4% - 36.9%
+1 Timid Signal Beam vs. 252/0 Spiritomb = 38.8% - 46.1%
+1 Timid Signal Beam vs. 208/116+ Spritomb = 32.8% - 38.9%
So we have our first 100% counter here people, granted you're running a Pursuit/Sucker Punch combination and can predict correctly. Spiritomb is the best you're going to get, but even he takes a good chunk of damage.
Modest LO Focus Blast vs. 252/252+ Steelix = 102.3% - 120.3%
+1 Timid Focus Blast vs. 252/252+ Steelix = 107.3% - 126.6%
OHKO'd all the time. I learned the hard way trying to use Steelix as a Zam counter a while back.
A long list, yes, but it's needed to show how Alakazam can muscle through the tier by itself. After reviewing the list we can conclude that Alakazam has but one 100% counter, Spiritomb. Pokemon that can check it under certain circumstances are just a few, mainly specially defensive Milotic, and Drapion. I find that countering Alakazam is a daunting prospect and it deserves to be a suspect. I'd like to remind everyone that revenge-killing is NOT an argument in favor of Alakazam staying in UU. Staraptor can be revenge-killed by Ambipom, Swellow, and Mismagius but does that make it any less of a suspect? The answer is NO. Alakazam is basically a special variant of Staraptor, and deserves to be tested because of it's ability to easily sweep a large portion of the tier.