>>48067020Actually, Alolan-Golem DOES have a niche, albeit a very, very specific niche: it's the only non-steel type with Magnet Pull. In fact, despite being Untiered, Alolan-Golem actually had an OU set in Gen 7 that did see usage: a Choice-Scarf Trapper. This is because it had the ability to trap and kill Steel-Types that Magnezone couldn't, such as Heatran, Magearna, and Magnezone itself. If it was going up against a non-scarf Excadrill, it could even trap and remove that as long as sand wasn't up. In addition to ground and electric coverage it also had fire punch for those other steel types, such as Ferrothorn and Scizor, just in case it needed to fight them as well.
However, Magnezone was more reliable outside of it's steel-trapping niche since it had a better defensive typing and can hit various other mons hard, such as Lele or Toxapex. The actual set for Golem has Explosion as the last move for the sole intent of getting rid of it once it's removed all the enemy steel types because when it's niche is gone it can actually be a liability with how exploitable it can be for some Pokemon (though it can also run Stone Edge if you'd rather keep it around for other fliers like Zapdos).
So, is Alolan-Golem a god tier Pokemon that's really meta? No, not by any means. But saying it's "just as bad as the original Golem" is objectively incorrect, because it was able to get an OU write-up in SPITE of it's Untiered status, in much the same way Shedinja is Untiered but still sees usage for it's unique niche.
