Quantity of a type does matter in R/B/Y. The last thing anyone wants is to have their entire squad wiped out by a single boltbeamer...
Alakazam in an expert's hands is one of the best pokemon in RBY. Furthermore, he is a perfect Chansey bait against people like you. The user can send out Alakazam, then immediately send out Tauros/Golem on the incoming Chansey.She is my instant switch-in if my opponent leads Alakazam
I've never used Alakazam in any of my RBY teams for that exact reason.
Come to think of it, I never use Alakazam in any of my GSC teams either.
He's honestly an utter failure in every generation, which really makes you wonder why he's ever been OU. Outclassed by Starmie in every imaginable way. For that reason, -Alakazam, +Rhydon/Snorlax.
Rhydon is only useful if you're good at predicting Chansey and Alakazam's T-Wave, or if you're worried about the rare Zapdos. Plus, you'd really want them to paralyzed already (which is paradoxical since you don't want their Chansey to be paralyzed.Defensive quantity might not matter, but offensive quantity does. Look at his team. He already has eggy and Tauros carrying normal type moves, yet only has EQ on one pokemon(Tauros) and has no rock type moves. Essentially, the only downside to using Rhydon is the water, ice, and grass weaknesses that his team covers very well. That is why Rhydon is a better choice.
First of all, "Snorlax is amazing" is not really an argument. Secondly, Rhydon has quite a few uses apart from Explosion blocker. You seem to be forgetting just how hard it hits on the offensive side. Would Rhydon be OU if it was only useful against Chansey, some Alakzam, and Zapdos? I think not. Plus you do not even address my argument. Snorlax offers nothing new to this team whatsoever. It already has Chansey to absorb Special hits, and has Tauros/Rhydon to spread paralysis(assuming he uses Rhydon). As is, it would not even matter if Rhydon's ONLY goal was to block TWave and Explosion, since his team abhors paralysis so much. The simple fact is, Rhydon hits harder, and this is meant to be an offensive team. Therefore, Rhydon is the obvious choice.Rhydon is only useful if you're good at predicting Chansey and Alakazam's T-Wave, or if you're worried about the rare Zapdos. Plus, you'd really want them to paralyzed already (which is paradoxical since you don't want their Chansey to be paralyzed.
You don't need two explosion walls. Let your gengar sleep the enemy, then let your gengar get slept and he is now a sleep holder AND an explosion absorber.
Snorlax is amazing.
Stop comparing Alakazam to Chansey. Chansey doesn't have a 368 stabbed attack, doesn't CH frequently, and doesn't outspeed everyone in the OU metagame. Starmie and Zam are more similar, but then, Starmie doesn't use psychic, and doesn't outspeed other Starmie and Persian, which Zam does. Furthermore, Alakazam's special is far better than Starmie's, making him a better sweeper once the specified walls (Chansey/Eggy) are removed.I've already addressed Alakazam as a Chansey bait, keep up with me. It's an inferior Chansey/Starmie. Get on my level.
And as far as "experts" go, no one here qualifies. Whatever though, Alakazam still plays second string.
Sam, can't I just say Snorlax is amazing without explaining it ;)First of all, "Snorlax is amazing" is not really an argument. Secondly, Rhydon has quite a few uses apart from Explosion blocker. You seem to be forgetting just how hard it hits on the offensive side. Would Rhydon be OU if it was only useful against Chansey, some Alakzam, and Zapdos? I think not. Plus you do not even address my argument. Snorlax offers nothing new to this team whatsoever. It already has Chansey to absorb Special hits, and has Tauros/Rhydon to spread paralysis(assuming he uses Rhydon). As is, it would not even matter if Rhydon's ONLY goal was to block TWave and Explosion, since his team abhors paralysis so much. The simple fact is, Rhydon hits harder, and this is meant to be an offensive team. Therefore, Rhydon is the obvious choice.
I agree with you about Borat. HOWEVER...mathematically, Rhydon hits harder. This is a fact. He has higher attack with higher base power STAB moves. You have not "debunked" anything. What you have done is attempt to explain away why hitting harder is not relevent. Get your argument straight before characterizing it. Other than that, you seem pretty sure Zapdos is uncommon. The thing is, it's OU for a reason...its OVERUSED. Not having a proper counter to it sucks. What, exactly, does not adding Snorlax make him weak to? NOTHING. What, exactly, does not adding Rhydon make him weak to? Zapdos, an OVERUSED pokemon. Also, Rhydon works terrifically with your beloved Alakazam. 'zam TWaves threats, and Rhydon finishes them. By late game, Rhydon is likely to be one of the fastest pokemon left, if not the fastest, due to paralysis. I will agree with you that Snorlax may be the better pokemon OVERALL, with better options, but for this team Rhydon is clearly the superior choice.Stop comparing Alakazam to Chansey. Chansey doesn't have a 368 stabbed attack, doesn't CH frequently, and doesn't outspeed everyone in the OU metagame. Starmie and Zam are more similar, but then, Starmie doesn't use psychic, and doesn't outspeed other Starmie and Persian, which Zam does. Furthermore, Alakazam's special is far better than Starmie's, making him a better sweeper once the specified walls (Chansey/Eggy) are removed.
When using Alakazam as a late-game sweeper, keep it hidden until the late-game. Then, Chansey is not a problem. Irrelevant, really. Golem/Eggy/Gengar/Snorlax should remove Chansey long before you send out Zam.
Borat, I'd prefer not to be on whatever level you think you're on. You're a 2004 RBY has-been.
Sam, can't I just say Snorlax is amazing without explaining it ;)
Okay, I'll do a little explaining. This first part is most important: Rhydon can't 1HKO people with EQ. It usually takes 2 hits (more against Snorlax). Snorlax can 2HKO the same people with Body Slam. See, the net result is that 2 hits kills the enemy. Thus, purely attack-wise, they are equal, right? No. Snorlax kills Rhydon and Golem with surf, and is not weak to Starmie, Lapras, Eggy, Slowbro, and Articuno. Snorlax, being a normal type, has no true counters (with fighting being absent from RBY). Rhydon has many counters and has to do a lot of running, which means a lot of free hits for the enemy to rack up on your team.
Snorlax adds another strong physical attacker to wreak havoc before Tauros finishes things off. Rhydon is dead in 1-2 hits from every single OU pokemon except Zapdos. Snorlax takes 3 to 4 hits to take down, while getting to lay down several 318 stabbed body slams.
As seen above, I have debunked the idea that Rhydon hits harder, because the net result is that it takes 2 hits from both Snorlax and Rhydon to kill the enemy. Do I need to emphasize again that Eggy, Lapras, Slowbro, and Starmie completely wall Rhydon? Rhydon means a free Eggy switch which often ends in Chansey getting blown up on (paving the way for someone like... Zam ;)).
Thus, I suggest Snorlax. Use Chansey for T-Wave absorption, and Gengar for explosion absorption, and rest in the peace that Zapdos is very uncommon these days.
I've never claimed to be an expert, although I am one of the few people that still regularly plays the original games on a regular basis.And as far as "experts" go, no one here qualifies. Whatever though, Alakazam still plays second string.
And by the associative property, it's not me who's arguing the merits of one's viewpoints, but rather, the viewpoints themselves. Ad hominem from me only arises from ad hominem towards me.Alakazam in an expert's hands is one of the best pokemon in RBY.
First, don't compare Chansey and Alakazam anymore because this whole argument is about sweeper Alakazam. Only an idiot would claim Alakazam is a better special wall than Chansey, and thus I never claimed such.Why wouldn't I compare Alakazam to Chansey? People consider Zam a special wall, and who better to compare to than... Chansey? Given that Alakazam has very little inherent advantage over Chansey [as persay, Snorlax vs Blissey in GSC], then the two are very comparable. Alakazam's 368 to Chansey's 308 will generally amount to about a 14% damage increase, which on most levels, is about 10 damage or so. Given that Chansey will either hit everything for neutral or SE, whereas Alakazam will hit everything for either neutral or NVE, I think the two cancel out nicely, especially when you factor that offense is generally a secondary use for both.
And are you're saying Starmie's NOT using Psychic is a disadvantage? If anything, the fact that Starmie can learn a move and get STAB off it, yet chooses to forgo it shows Psychic's inferiority as a move. Boltbeam coverage far outweighs Psychic's, and Hydro Pump outdamages Psychic should it come to hitting Tauros and stuff. And let's not forget Starmie's resilience(at least more so in comparison) to physical attacks.
Last I checked, Slowbro, Starmie, other Alakazams can also wall Alakazam. Let's not forget, Psychic is a 4HKO on Zapdos to Starmie's 2HKO, 4HKO to Lapras to Starmie's 3HKO, 5HKO to Jynx to Starmie's 3HKO (if you're using Surf). Actually, all of that is useless calculation. There's not a single Pokemon Alakazam can KO faster than Starmie. Alakazam's sweeping potential is far greater on paper than in practice. 368 Spc and 338 Spd screams sweeper, but 0 coverage in move diversity totally kills that. Being 2 shotted by every physical move also aids to that.
And you make Chansey's death sound much easier than it actually is. Chansey is usually one of the last Pokemon to fall for almost every team. I do remember you saying Chansey is THE most important Pokemon in RBY, isn't it? Let's not go back on your word now.
Ultimately, when you get down to it, are you willing to come out admit Alakazam is a better sweeper than Starmie? No? Ok. Is Alakazam a better overall Pokemon than Chansey? No? Ok. Then this discussion need not go any farther, as you yourself don't believe the claims you're making.
Hi waterwizard, I don't know why you feel like you need to have this feud with me, attacking me personally, but it's rather... odd, for a lack of better term. I don't know who you are, nor do I know where the 2004 statement came from (or how you even knew that). But given the mere consensus that you do, then you should very well know I'm very much a RBY nobody, especially in the realms of 5-6 years ago. GSC is where my expertise lies, RBY just happens to be a minor obstacle en route. Being known as an RBY has-been, if there is such a thing, is probably more credit than I deserve. I've won my share, certainly, and probably a little more recently in 06-07 or so, but that's irrelevent. That being said, RBY's peak was reached long ago, probably around 02-03. Quality of games deteriorated since then as the better players stop playing. And because the metagame has relatively stayed the same since then, with no real discoveries or drastic shifts in playstyle since then, it goes without saying that the overall skill of the games went south as well, and I've witnessed this first hand. Being even the best player today means absolutely nothing. Being the best player 3-4 years ago still means very little. You'd have to be the best 6-7 years ago to really have any real credibility.
Question is, what say do YOU have in judging who's a has-been and who's not? Who are YOU? Who have YOU played? What have YOU accomplished? I'm being shallow here, but without reputation/recognition, your allegations/conclusions mean little to none on the whole reputation side. I will and have treated you as an equal [until proven otherwise] in terms of RBY knowledge though. But it doesn't look like that'll carry on for long though. Attacking me on a skill-basis is uncalled for, nor relevant, as I don't play anymore. But if I did, I may very well be better than you, who knows. A "has-been" I might be, but it's a lot better than being a "never-was".
I agree that Chansey can take out Golem in 2 hits. But, since Chansey will (if you're good) already be paralyzed, Golem has a chance to take it out first (guaranteed if Chansey has already been hit by a psychic/surf). Paralyzed Chansey also provides Golem a chance to get in a free substitute (or 4 chances to get it right).chansey has a guaranteed 2hko on golem and she's faster than golem is. alakazam very rarely 2hkoes golem so actually chansey beats golem better than alakazam does. to me, the only thing alakazam accomplishes better than chansey defensively is gettin exploded on - which is nothing more than a demonstration of how overall less useful it is.
offensively, the only pokémon kazam handles better than starmie is gengar, unless starmie has psychic (but she usually doesn't since she has better options to go with, unlike zam).
for an year or so i refused to use chansey in rby. didn't like her overall omnipotence and the component of stall she brings to the game when the chansey vs chansey situation appears (until finally i became smarter and realized that all i have to do is comin' in on the twave and look for a frozen :) also i run sing quite often now). however, during my "sabbatic year" i used to replace chansey with type resistances, hyper offense, and alakazam.
everything of which was fail.
type resistance aren't really meant to be abused in a non-leftovers metagame. hyper offense still falls to prediction / revenge kill. and alakazam is just an inferior special wall terribly hindered by the most common status in rby.
so i fully agree w/ borat here, chansey is pretty much a necessity in rby, while zam is inferior and you should almost never run it alone (sure running both chansey and zam is a different story).
onto the rhydon / snorlax topic, i really have to say i do not particullary like neither of them, although i admit lax is the superior choice. the reasoning behind the rhydon's eq / lax's bs comparison in koing power was pretty erroneous though, since there are quite a few things that result in being hammered by rhydon for a 2/3hko, while lax fails at those numbers. the real advantage snorlax has is in being capable of single-handedly taking on those pokés, while rhydon requires them to be para'd in order to be effective at crippling them.
Here's a couple quotes by you:First, don't compare Chansey and Alakazam anymore because this whole argument is about sweeper Alakazam.
I never said Alakazam was a better sweeper than Starmie.
So if you're not going to dispute Chansey's overall superiority, and you've already claimed Starmie is better than Alakazam as a sweeper, then why are you still responding?I would say Alakazam edges it out for 3rd place sweeper as he is faster and stronger. Starmie would probably be called #2.
Alakazam can 2HKO a total of 1 Pokemon on my team, Tauros. Good for him. Let's not have biased views.Alakazam's psychic can and usually does 1-2hko about half of the OU pool, and 3-4 pokes on a given OU team. Starmie's "boltbeam coverage" means she is super effective against 1 pokemon on my team (Eggy). Good for her.
I don't understand what your personal experience has to do with anything. The odds of that occuring are 0.05%, or 1 in 2000. That's lower than the odds of getting 6 straight OHKOs via... OHKO moves. And if I ever do get 6 straight OHKOs, do you think that's sufficient justification for banning Dugtrio?I just played a game where Alakazam 1hko'd full health Persian, Tauros, and Golem.