>>5317055599% of EV spreads are suboptimal and 99% of EV spreads in use are 252 spe/252 atk or spa for offensive mons and 252 hp/252 def or spd for defensive mons. doubles has more nuance than singles but they will generally have the same spreads too with maybe a few EVs difference to survive very situational hits.
most pokemon don't have that many options for items and moves either since they can only have four moves and one item at a time, and these choices are limited by their stat spread, typing, nature, ability, and EV spread which a set can only have one of. that may sound like a lot but almost any mon in any given format leans towards one optional strategy to fill a specific role in their team which makes it easy to guess what their options are. the best mons are usually the ones that have many optimal strats which then either get banned or cause the meta to revolve around them. but as long as you play enough matches the game is practically solved and the top players win by beating the timer.
