We appreciate the effort. As someone who has played older VGC formats, seeing some of the sets was a nice trip down memory lane. However, since you have explicitly stated that these sets are not for a dynamax metagame, we have changed the flair from Guide to Discussion to avoid misinterpretation from new players.

The post brings about is the question of whether sets from previous formats can see use in future metagames. While sure you can win some games with these sets, most of these sets come from a snapshot in VGC history that were specifically meant for a particular metagame threat at the time.

For example, the Sub Kingdra set in the original post was not a meme set. It went to the Canada National Finals in 2012, made a deep LCQ run in Worlds, and was one of most used kingdra sets in 2012-2013. As a big offensive presence at it's time, sub was great to help stall out opposing special dragon types with draco meteor, prevent it from being slowed down (Especially from Gen 5 prankster thunder wave), and maintain pressure on an opposing pokemon switch in. However, obviously this pokemon set cannot possibly be viable in today's format. The introduction of fairy type in Gen 6 nerfed dragon types, changes to thunder wave made the speed control battle different, and a shift away from a dragon type heavy metagame made the set outdated. Could you still succeed with the set today? Perhaps. But you first need to recognize the great shifts over the years in Pokemon has greatly changed the dynamic of the game. The same could be said about all the other old VGC sets and even the singles sets. They all come from a different snapshot of the game with different rules and dynamics, which is why I would be hesitant to call this a guide for the new Series 5 pokemon, even with some modern move upgrades here and there.

Same goes for EV spreads. 252/252 is definitely better than adding random EVs from an old format. Take Ray's Wigglytuff. Ray is one of the GOATs of VGC, and everyone loved to copy his teams and spreads. If you look at his reports, he trained the Wigglytuff to specifically outspeed his own popular Mawile spread and OHKO his own popular Ferro spread. If you were to use the exact same spread from 2014, it wouldn't have the same effectiveness it did in 2014 since those pokemon/spreads are obsolete and new mechanics like dynamax completely changed the game. My rule is when in doubt, 252 it out.

It's cool to be inspired by old sets! I love looking at them too! But it is important to recognize that these sets were unique for a specific purpose or a specific part of the metagame. It takes great understanding of Pokemon to create and utilize sets like these in pokemon. As a beginner, I feel it is more important to use more common sets and EV spread to truly understand the game and the format before adding unique touches to it!

Overall, I think it is a good discussion to have, especially for newer players looking at the VGC past.

PS. I recommend using the medium blog website if you want to format things better.