"Mewtwo... what is it good for?"

#PokemonGO: I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of a spot in the party of a fellow redditor for the Yokohama event, and had the time of my life (thank you, if you're reading this!).I've been wondering what to do with my 84 IV mewtwo.About IV: Telling you what you already knowNormally, I'm such a detail-oriented person that I don't want to spend dust on anything less than 90 IV. However, after reviewing pokebattler simulations, I realized that even if my mewtwo were perfect, it would often only finish battles 1-2 seconds faster than my 84 IV mewtwo, and it seems ungrateful not to use the opportunity to power up one of the first mewtwos so... it's getting maxed. After I hit level 40, the first pokemon I maxed was my 10/10/10 starter, and I've never regretted the fact that my charizard has 2520 CP instead of the marginally better 2600+ CP charizard I would have if I had powered one of my 96 IV fire lizards. I don't think I'll regret this either. Since i'm going to max it, what moves should I use?Quick move: Going for psycho cutConfusion and Psycho cut yield similar battle times on all my simulations, even with a variety of dodging options. Overall, confusion seems to be the "better" move for a noob like me who doesn't dodge much as it deals better DPS. But I think it would be fun to learn to dodge well, and psycho cut generates more energy giving it a slight edge in battle times vs opponents who take Super Effective damage from mewtwo's charge move. Since mewtwo's damage will probably matter most in raids where he will deal SE dmg with his charge attack, I'm using psycho cut for my quick move.Then the question becomes, what charge move?Charge move 1: Psycho Cut/Focus BlastIf you go to pokebattler, you'll see mewtwo with psycho cut/focus blast ranked #1 (vs the top defenders). Why? Because the only defenders worth mentioning are blissey and chansey (chansey for time, whether pokebattler ranks it or not I don't care), and the other ranked defenders include snorlax, ttar, lapras, steelix, and umbreon, all of whom receive SE damage from fighting type. However, regardless of how I mess around with movesets and make IVs perfect vs average... the performance of mewtwo with PC/FB never approaches the performance of machamp with C/DP, who is almost always about 20% faster.Most of us have a team of machamps already, or at least several, specifically for this purpose and for TTar/Snorlax raids. So maxing my mewtwo and giving it the best ranked moveset on pokebattler is still less effective than machamp in the specific situations where Focus Blast really shines. Furthermore, machop nests and is easy to walk for candy. For the same stardust, a much more common pokemon/easily obtained candy generates better results against all the opponents where psycho cut/focus blast would be ideal. UNFORTUNATELY, Focus Blast is also weak vs dragonite in gyms, and in raids it is weak vs mewtwo, mew, double weak vs lugia, weak vs all other legendary birds except articuno--against whom it effectively deals neutral damage, and weak vs gengar + alakazam at the tier 3 level.(Yes Focus Blast is strong vs rhydon, and golem if golem raids go worldwide, but venusaur and vaporeon are better options with the double weakness of rock/ground to water or grass. And as emphasized above, mewtwo doesn't hold a candle to machamp against tyranitar)So is focus blast the best option? Maybe not.Charge move 2: Hyper BeamIn my simulations against raid bosses, hyper beam was almost never the best option and never the worst option, this might be a great choice if Niantic ever allows 1 legendary per gym and mewtwo can be a defender (though Focus Blast might be better at that point as people would attack with dark types).Charge move 3: PsychicPsychic was disappointingly weak against everything, and even against machamp (assuming you were thinking of using mewtwo against raid boss machamp) it's only about 20% faster than attacking with shadow ball.Charge move 4: Shadow BallWhich brings me to shadow ball. I'm concerned people might discount this move because of its poor ranking on pokebattler. Shadow ball performs with excellent DPS in raids against other mewtwo, lugia, gengar, and alakazam. It should be excellent against celebi and mew. The only other "strong" pokemon who can learn shadow ball (alakazam and gengar) are far to fragile to be practical in raids. In my experience, Lugia is more likely to be failed because of not having enough people (i.e. not enough DPS) than any other raid right now, so a pokemon with great DPS could really shine in Lugia raids. And of all the tier 3 raids that most high-level players can defeat (not counting flareon as it requires a dust investment to a team of rock/ground attackers than most players cannot afford), alakazam probably poses the most significant challenge to high level players (especially when it has focus blast, which is 2x SE vs tyranitar). To a lesser extent gengar is a threat with focus blast as well. Lugia's hydro pump also counters tyranitar. I think this makes shadow ball mewtwo an excellent option to "close a gap" where some extra damage could make a very significant difference.TL;DR: The fact that Focus Blast mewtwo is strong in simulations vs current "ideal" gym defenders (many dark, steel, or normal) does not make it the best. Most players have machamp whose fighting movesets are more effective. Mewtwo should fill a gap--win raids that pose a particular challenge, and fill a niche. I theorize that this means selecting Shadow Ball, allowing mewtwo to deal SE damage vs psychic-type raid bosses (especially legendary raid bosses) and, to a lesser extent, the gengar raid boss. In this role, mewtwo can deal excellent damage in situations where tyranitar is vulnerable to fighting-type charge moves (and hydro pump from lugia).P.S. SB mewtwo still excels vs machamp, since machamp takes SE damage from the quick move and neutral dmg from SB. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2w1VIjT