Gen 1 I Came, I Saw, I Conquered




On RBY

In which I describe an RBY team that has provided me with countless wins, the likes of which I know how to pilot only due to the Italian masters that dominated RBY before and after I stepped foot in it.

There is a small faction of prominent tour players that I have met that share a certain opinion with me. This point of view on its face sounds a bit weird and counterintuitive, but it was always the first piece of advice I gave to tutees when attempting to teach them any other tier, be it ADV OU or ORAS UU or what have you. My theory was that in order to get better at Pokemon in general one should learn how to play RBY OU at a high level - once you are able to accomplish that, success in other tiers or metagames will come far more naturally.

Usually this point of view is seen as suspicious or unrelated. What does a tier with only a handful of viable Pokemon and extremely similar teams have to do with being good at something like SM OU, where there are countless combinations? How does a tier where RNG rules the day help you prepare for grinding it out on the UU ladder?

The answer comes when the student recognizes that RBY OU is, at its base, perhaps the most "competitive" tier in terms of playing. RBY is, in my estimation, the purest form of Pokemon - there are few twists and turns in a given RBY match, and over a period of time truly great players distinguish themselves as being clearly above the rest. While RBY may not boast the nuanced plays of GSC, the creativity afforded in ADV, the speed of DPP or any of the defining factors of the other OUs, at its very core learning Gen 1 will teach out how to succeed in the grit of every single Pokemon game you play.

At this point it's probably best that I provide some justification for my claims. I'm assuming most who are reading this RMT have played a few matches of RBY, and as such are familiar with the mechanics. With that basic understanding many players stop there, only picking up the tier for an ill-fated Classic run once a year. Looking just slightly past the surface though helps infinitely, and for most, leads them to realize that the oft-repeated phrases like "got RBYd" are completely silly. A more devoted student will then realize that a number of players have dominated the RBY scene for years on end now. Wouldn't that be confusing if it were just a tier where luck handed out wins? Alexander, Marco, Tiba, Peasounay, Lusch - all are wildly consistent players that have won time and time again in incredibly difficult circumstances.

To achieve this level of consistency and mastery these players recognized that at its very core Pokemon is a game about chance manipulation. When playing RBY at a high level this becomes fairly apparent - with little to obfuscate the game or add complexity to it, success over a long term almost always comes down to how well one can plan out and execute a game plan and shift for mid-game events.

I've rambled on long enough now about my philosophy behind the tier, but these paragraphs lay the groundwork for how I intend to write the rest of this RMT. The choices in Pokemon in RBY aren't terribly varied and "surprise" movesets don't really exist (though you'll see one close in this team). What is more important is understanding how the Pokemon work together and how they should be utilized.

Finally I would like to offer this team as an example of what I would call the "Italian Style" of RBY. In the early days post-Body Slam change Marco and Alexander rose quickly to the top of the RBY scene. They utilized teams that took advantage of the mechanics change and produced some of the most dominant stretches I have ever seen in a given OU. Having played with them both innumerable times on PP and with Alexander being my teacher in RBY, I would ascribe this style of team and play to Italy as they were at the forefront of an enormous metagame shift that influences how literally any top-tier RBY player plays the game today.

Team Thesis

Conquered is a fairly straightforward team. As stated in the opening, I attempt to utilize a group of six Pokemon with particular movesets that offer the greatest amount of consistency and probability management.

In as much as metagame shifts exist in RBY, this team is still incredibly consistent within them. Certain sets exist solely to take advantage of commonly utilized sample-esque teams that permeate cups filled with non-active RBY players - such as the RBY cup. In such a tournament you are likely to find very similar, very recognizable teams that carry the same sets time and time again. In this team I thought it would be best to include a few options that could potentially take advantage of naivety or overconfidence in a tier where little variation is possible. This is the reason for two relatively oddball choices in the team which still do not sacrifice any synergy.

Additionally, while it is (relatively more) commonplace now, the use of a Reflect Normal at the time this team was created was not standard. This is an overkill on less experienced players - those typically not well versed in RBY will follow adages that simply don't apply to Reflect Normals (almost entirely Snorlax and Chansey) and will throw away momentum without knowing it. While you will see these sets more and more now (and in active RBY communities they are considered standard) at the time Chansey was almost entirely BoltBeam or carried a more esoteric option such as Counter or Sing.

This team's primary focus is consistency, it's secondary focus is the ability to surprise high-level players that are playing too formulaic and its third focus is to overkill less skilled players in a tournament setting.

Team Building Process

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Leads are more important in RBY than perhaps any other generation. There is a commonly accepted pool of leads - Jynx, Gengar, Starmie for example, along with the one that I chose, Alakazam. At the time that I created this team I was not a huge fan of non-sleep leads and used Jynx almost unanimously on my teams. Don't get me wrong - I had enjoyed a fair bit of success with Jynx leads, but something was missing. It all comes back to consistency, and after playing against Alex a fair bit, I realized that he utilized Alakazam in a few ways that Jynx couldn't be used - all of which were more consistent than the often 56% chance I slept something T1 with the Ice-type. Seeing Zam in action made me know this is where I wanted to start.


There's a lot I could say about Tauros, but from a teambuilding perspective it is incredibly straightforward. Tauros is the premier Pokemon in the tier and much of RBY play revolves around it. Tauros is 100% necessary on any competitive team with at least three moves (almost always four, though) being the same. There is no way around this.


Chansey, while not necessarily as vital as Tauros, is pretty close to the same level. The Chansey on this team is different though, and functions in a fairly strange way compared to what was considered the "standard" at the time (BoltBeam). I knew I needed a Chansey for anything resembling a tournament-winning RBY team, but I was going to follow in the footsteps of the masters at this point. My Chansey is very specifically put into this team in order to reset momentum where possible. If a game is getting out of control, this is the Pokemon I look to in order to regain my footing.


Without a lead sleeper of course it is necessary to have one. As well, Exeggutor is just generally a fantastic Pokemon. Access to boom, sleep, psychic necessitate its presence on nearly all teams.



Snorlax is the last of the "Big Four", Pokemon that are more or less required on every realistically competitive RBY team. My Snorlax is a little peculiar, which I'll go over in the in-depth portion, and forms an offensive strategy with my last Pokemon. Snorlax is needed primarily to give me extra options vs opposing Tauros, Chansey and well, basically almost anything.



The final choice on this team was Zapdos. I remember reading a few years ago, when I first got into RBY, someone describing Zap's viability as such - "it's S rank if the opponent doesn't have a Rock". That always stuck in my head. RBY is a lot about your "sixth mon" as its usually the most flexible slot on a given team (Pool of Leads + Big Four + Acceptable 6th Mons). Zapdos isn't the most unique choice here by a long shot - a lot of people know it as perhaps one of the best Pokemon in the tier, but like earlier, this offers massive consistency. Zapdos gives you extra buffer against Tauros sweeps, can beat down Starmie, hits Eggy SE, threatens paralyzed Chanseys - it really has so many options and executes them all very often.


In Depth
In this section I will cover the movesets for each Pokemon as well as the manner in which they should (generally) be played against what you can be expected to see. While the tips and guidelines will not be completely locked in place, as too rigid a player will have difficulty succeeding in the long run, these tips will afford you a fair bit of success against any player that isn't at a tremendously high skill level. Against the elite I would advise trying to grasp the individual games momentum a little more - figuring out the psychology of your opponent will become important when they are capable of analyzing matches to a high degree.


Alakazam
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Recover

Alakazam is the most consistent lead in RBY. It is realistically the fastest (unboosted) Pokemon you will see in a given RBY match, affording you the front foot in your decision making. There are a few routes you can choose to take with "how to play your Alakazam". The former is as a traditional lead/paralysis spammer - focus primarily on using Zam to Para the opposing lead regardless of what status ailment befalls you and subsequently use Zam as sleep fodder or a paralyzed switch-in onto Eggy to dodge sleep.


  • Alakazam is pressured against a lead Jynx, but will still be able to accomplish its goals relatively well. You outspeed, of course, but don't hit the Jynx for any appreciable damage - the first play in a T1 matchup against Jynx is one without a lot of wiggle-room; you always Thunder Wave here. There simply isn't any room to make any other sort of play, there is an incoming Lovely Kiss that you can't take with any of your other Pokemon.

  • While many of today's top-tier players will eschew Gengar in favor of other leads, you will still see it from time to time. If using this team you can be pretty happy, lead Gengar is lovely to see with a lead Alakazam. There are sort of two options here but I prefer one over the other - you can either Psychic or Thunder Wave. A Psychic crit threatens to kill Gengar, and even without the crit, the Gengar has a 55% chance of "winning" the matchup by hitting Hypnosis, which isn't really awe-inspiring odds. However, most Gengar leads will recognize the situation and switch out, which is why I prefer Thunder Wave. Depending on what they bring in, you are able to move accordingly and keep a healthy Alakazam that no longer has to function solely as a lead - freeing up options vs Tauros in the later game, as well as tricky Pokemon like Cloyster or Dragonite that are saved for late-game sweeps.

  • Starmie is one Pokemon that isn't terribly fun to face. If you are using this team there are two options you can take when facing a lead Starmie. It's not a terrible play to let your Alakazam get paralyzed in order to para the opposing Mie, which will of course greatly reduce its effectiveness. The other option is to switch immediately into Chansey to eat the Thunder Wave, but this is risky in the sense that you are hoping they will stay in a turn to let the Mie get parad and later you will have to play more carefully around Eggy.

  • Opposing Alakazam leads are probably what you will face most often. This is a lead I actually welcome, although it might not be terribly obvious why. It is en vogue in RBY circles at this time to simply trade Paralysis turn 1 and then play a waiting game with Psychic drops (which influence speed on para'd mons) and Seismic Tosses between Recovers to see which Alakazam wins. I actually do not like this style of play though and this is one case where I do break with the Italian Style - I've adjusted my play in recent months to switching hard to Exeggutor in a Zam v Zam lead matchup. It is incredibly common that your opponent will do one of two things - either go for Thunder Wave off the bat (in which case you then threaten the Zam with sleep) or switch hard to Chansey (letting Chansey get paralyzed is an old school strategy that I think is not terribly effective, but many people still do it). Both of these cases are fairly good for you if you switch to Exeggutor.

  • Although many people might wonder why this is in a "common matchups" section, I think it is important to note that playing Alakazam in a particular way can greatly strengthen your matchup vs Tauros in general. Focusing on keeping Alakazam healthy and, in particular, un-Paralyzed makes late-game Tauros matchups much, much easier. Having the ability to bring in Alakazam after a sacrifice to threaten the Tauros with either Psychic or Thunder Wave is amazing - it makes the "bull war" portion of many games easier on your end.



Tauros
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Earthquake
- Blizzard

Tauros is, quite simply, the best Pokemon in RBY. It's one of the best in any OU ever, for that matter, which even casual fans will know. "Where there's a Tauros, there's a way" of course. High crit rate, absurd attack, good enough coverage options, good speed - it's really got everything you need. Generally there are a few ways one can play a Tauros, with most players opting for a late-game sweeper type. If desired it can be played mid-game aggressively, and if you are a prediction heavy player bringing the bull in on doubles or certain predictions can be massively beneficial, as basically nothing in the tier can happily switch in on it.


  • Slam, Slam, Beam. Just remember that - it's the quintessential "bull war" philosophy. Pure 50/50 in that case. Keep in mind potential variables like an enterprising player switching into a normal resist or something that can eat a Beam to take advantage of the recharge turn.

  • Snorlax matchups are actually a bit interesting. Typically you will see Lax being switched into Tauros, as its one of the few things that can eat a Body Slam and still perform its role. In general, though, this is good for setting up late-game sweeps. If you are facing a ReflectRest Lax, Tauros is going to have a much harder time breaking it of course. Typically in these scenarios aim to attack it during the definite sleep turns, pivoting to something when it wakes up if you haven't been able to crit it.

  • In general, you aren't going to want to attack Eggy unless you have it definitively in kill range. Sleep or boom are simply too annoying of threats for a Tauros. However if you are a player that likes to live on the edge there is another option in the mid-game that can work out. Eggy will sometimes come in on a Tauros Body Slam in an attempt to threaten it out with Sleep Powder - provided you let Alakazam get Paralyzed early on this isn't so bad. A good player will often recognize the easy switch into Zam in this scenario and try to either double or go for a normal coverage move - in this case, it isn't necessarily bad to eat the damage with Tauros in order to Slam Eggy again and put it into Beam range. However, this is a fairly risky play and requires a good grasp of your opponent's psychology.



Chansey
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled

As stated earlier, at the time that this team was created Reflect Chansey was not as common as the traditional BoltBeam style. That isn't to say that I was one of the early adopters though - indeed, I picked up the playstyle from Marco and Alex coming before me (along with others, but I primarily watched those two). To that end, Reflect Chans (and Reflect Lax) were, at this juncture, really only things on Pokemon Perfect - a website which hosts RBY tournaments a lot more often with a pretty stacked playerbase. When I first translated this team to Smogon RBY I found that a ton of Smogon players simply couldn't handle this Pokemon. It was almost astounding to me - players who were otherwise clever and relatively talented would often freeze up in the face of a Chansey with Reflect up. This, almost ludicrously, still holds true for a decent amount of non-common RBY players today. Many adhere to the adage of not Paralyzing Chansey (which can be true in certain cases, but is not that simple) and will let it run amok with nearly no way to beat it down without risking something major (Tauros being Para'd, for example).

While its less of an autowin these days, Reflect Chansey is still incredibly good. In a PP war scenario if you get paralyzed you will always beat out opposing BoltBeam Chanseys. You are able to switch in on Snorlax much easier with Reflect Chansey on your team. This gives Chansey the role of "momentum resetter" for me - it is usually the Pokemon I use when I am feeling against the ropes. More enterprising players can switch into Chansey and then immediately double for neat momentum, aiming to utilize paralyzed Pokemon later for a Softboiled turn.


  • Opposing Chansey are a neat conundrum. Simply put, Reflect Chansey loses to BoltBeam Chansey when it is non-Paralyzed - but you won't actually know terribly often what set the Chansey is when you are thinking of taking a sacrificial Thunder Wave with your own. You get into neat PP war territory vs other Reflect Chanseys, meaning this is a case where potentially you don't actually want to para the opposing one, as the paralysis turns will allow you to converse PP better. However there are indeed some cases where paralyzing the opposing Reflect Chansey isn't a bad idea at all! If you are looking to get your Snorlax in front of it before it gets the Reflect up, having Chansey gamble on Softboiled turns is a godsend. Truthfully there is no simple way to play Chansey vs Chansey
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  • Playing vs Alakazam and Starmie is largely similar with a Reflect Chansey. The latter matchup changes a little bit depending on if you are paralyzed or not, as Starmie carries Blizzard so they can potentially fish for a freeze on you, but this isn't an ultra consistent strategy. In this matchup you can assume the opposing Psychic type will be paralyzed as will your Chansey. You are able to take hits a lot better than them as Seismic Tosses will chip away at their health and make them risk recovering on para turns quite often, however with the potential for drops and crits, it's not unthinkable for these two to win out. Play it carefully and attempt to time your reset-switches with a little bit of nous, if they are too predictable another Pokemon may be eating a powerful Psychic or Thunder Wave on the way in.



Exeggutor
- Sleep Powder
- Explosion
- Hyper Beam
- Psychic

Anyone who plays RBY at all knows how powerful sleep is. Exeggutor is the most consistent sleeper in the tier, having the bulk to take hits that the other sleep users don't, mitigated the 25% chance to miss a little bit. Adding to that, Eggy has a very powerful Psychic that none of the normals or Zapdos really enjoy taking, with Chansey always threatened by its normal type coverage moves. Sleep Powder, Explosion and Hyper Beam are utterly vital on more or less every Exeggutor and you won't find a competent user not using these three moves 99% of the time.

Hyper Beam comes in Exeggutor's "flex spot" in this case. There are a number of options that you can use in the fourth slot, but I believe that Beam is the most consistent and best option for a few reasons. Stun Spore isn't necessary on this team given the plethora of paralysis options that it carries, so we can rule that out. Double-Edge is decent, but the recoil can actually be a nuisance at times, and it isn't quite as strong as Beam, which is important for certain KOs to catch the opponent off-guard. Egg Bomb is a ludicrously poor move that shouldn't be run ever - the miss chance makes it far worse than other options. Tech options like Leech Seed or Mega Drain have their place but are frankly outclassed most of the time.


  • I often bring my Eggy in immediately against a Zam lead, as specified earlier. While it isn't as ideal as starting off Egg vs Zam, you still have a few opportunities to land the Sleep Powder through the Paralysis while getting hit with Seismic Tosses. This is, however, a fairly high-risk-high-reward play, it's not unthinkable to go 3 turns without landing the sleep and then essentially wasting a Pokemon.

  • Against Chansey the options immediately are simple. If you are both unstatused and there is a free sleep slot, you threaten the powder immediately and can force a switch to something like Alakazam, freeing you up to go for a normal coverage move. If, however, you have a low health Eggy the matchup changes just a bit. One move I like quite a lot is to preserve a paralyzed, low health Exeggutor and aim to get Chansey paralyzed through more consistent means (either Zam or Chansey). Once this is done, any time you get Eggy in on Chansey you have a great opportunity to threaten a boom - even if you don't land on the Chansey itself you are still gaining momentum from an otherwise "dead" mon.

  • Play with caution vs Tauros when using Exeggutor. You CAN use Eggy as a one time switchin, but between criticals, paralysis and miss chances, the sleep isn't as effective as it otherwise could be.



Snorlax
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Surf
- Self-Destruct

One of the kings of the tier, Snorlax is of course necessary on any competitive team. There are a few variants of Snorlax running about, with a lot of players now opting for Reflect/Rest sets (often paired with Amnesia for a terribly annoying Pokemon to break). I've never particularly been a fan of that, always preferring 4-attack sets in RBY OU.

When going with an AoA set, Body Slam and Self-Destruct are givens. You have a few options for the rest of the set, but Hyper Beam has a ton of utility and gives you a lot of extra range for KOs. Surf is the esoteric option here, but I made a judgment call due to the fact that most top RBYers simply do not like to use Gengar. It is a Pokemon that often doesn't accomplish its goals in addition to the fact that most high level RBYers are fairly Alakazam-favoring at this time. With that said, I chose to strengthen my Rock matchup for the last Pokemon on this team in exchange for weakening my matchup against Gengar (and Counter Pokemon).


  • Other Snorlax can indeed be a bit tricky. Typically I'll take the safer route in a Lax v Lax matchup and get into my Chans in order to poke around for the Counter, because my Lax isn't going to do well against a CounterLax. If I do get hit by the Counter on a Body Slam or something along those lines, I tend to play my Snorlax more recklessly and will take the opportunity to Boom.

  • As of late I have been playing extremely aggressively in Snorlax vs Chansey matchups. If I can manage to have healthy Lax vs Para'd Chans I will attempt to fish for a Paralysis that allows me to get the Chansey in Beam range. If this doesn't seem possible you can either reset the momentum by going to your Alakazam or Chansey, but if you want to keep up a ton of momentum and refuse them a chance to reset the pace on their own, an early-boom isn't really a terrible idea.

  • While you're not terribly safe vs Tauros, it isn't too bad to bring Snorlax in once on its Body Slam. From there though you might have to guess a bit - taking a Body Slam only to Slam back into a Reflect Chansey on the switch isn't great for momentum, so shuffling around in front of the Tauros is probably the best way to get the results that you want. This isn't always possible, though. Staying just outside Beam range from bull is important in order to threaten with the SD.
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  • It is great to see these. I rarely, if ever, see SurfLax in my travels and I note that my opponents don't expect it often either. Try to not reveal Zapdos before figuring out if you are facing a rock. If you are able to do this, they will likely take the Surf head on, because EQ to a healthy rock type isn't really putting it outside the range where it can reliably beat Zap.



Zapdos
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Drill Peck
- Thunder Wave

Last but not least we have Zapdos, probably the best Pokemon in the tier not part of the "Big Four". Zapdos is INCREDIBLY consistent if you take away rock types, which are pretty much the only Pokemon that stops it from accomplishing its job. The difference between Zapdos against a rock team or a non-rock team is like night and day, however this is why we go extra lengths to beat them up with the other members of the team.


  • If you haven't killed Chansey prior to revealing Zapdos you can still threaten it pretty well with the bird. Especially once Chansey is paralyzed it often gets into dangerous games having to Soft nonstop in order to remain useful at all. Zapdos has a decent crit rate and little in the tier actually wants to take a Drill Peck to the face, so spamming it in front of a Para'd Chansey isn't a terrible idea.




Alakazam
Ability: Synchronize
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Recover

Exeggutor
Ability: Chlorophyll
- Sleep Powder
- Explosion
- Hyper Beam
- Psychic

Snorlax
Ability: Immunity
- Self-Destruct
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Surf

Tauros
Ability: Intimidate
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Earthquake
- Blizzard

Chansey
Ability: Natural Cure
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled

Zapdos
Ability: Pressure
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Drill Peck
- Thunder Wave


I'm gonna do a ton of these here because I feel I don't do it very often, just once at the last of like SPL 7. Not really writing anything but thanks for being bros

ABR Hogg Christo blunder Alexander. Valentine IronBullet r0ady -Tsunami- PDC Isa Zamrock Tony Pearl rozes Ciele idiotfrommars ict Peasounay Sweepage Poek njnp Fireburn Star obii z0mOG MattyBrollic Sabella Posho New Breed BHARATH_THEBEST

Special mentions for my friend who I cannot tag at the moment Omfuga

and whoever else I may have forgotten, it's 9 AM on a Saturday when I'm finally finishing this and I want to go drink and shit so thanks for all the memories, sorry for RMTing "the" RBY team but you're all lovely and amazing people, keep it up IRL and in Pokemon
 
Lmao what a thread, lots of things to comment on I don't really know where to start

First of all I like how you talk about RBY as a tier (it almost feels like this RMT is some sort of a pretext to do so). The tier really has a bad reputation, be it for the RNG, the length of some games, how much it's centralized... Those critics aren't necessarily wrong but at the same time they're often made by players who aren't into the tier enough to really grasp what it's about, which is why I love when players from other tiers say things like "RBY is misunderstood", "RNG isn't as impactful as it seems", "The tier is great" etc. I probably wouldn't go as far as "once you've played it success at other tiers would be easier" but I definitely agree playing it will teach you something about maximizing odds, positioning, patience...

As for the team well, Alakazam Big 4 Zapdos is standard and definitely one of the most common teams, but your Snorlax set is very interesting. Not something you see everyday.

SurfLax is a good tech, you usually use it in specific teams like double electric or in wilder teams that have a hard time against Water + Rock cores (non big 4 teams that have jolteon and a gimmick mon weak to zapdos & starmie & water friends, let it be articuno, moltres, or even wilder shit...). I wouldn't necessarily use it in the team you showed (rocks are annoying for zapdos but those teams usually have a harder time than others against tauros so playing around that can be enough without having to resolve to using surf on lax) but 1) having played you a lot, i know how aggro you like to be so having a move as dedicated as surf in a team like this i think suits you very well and 2) it has good merits with Hyper Beam.

Usually you use Surf over Hyper Beam while keeping slam/sd/eq for Gengar but mostly for Counter. Not having Earthquake against CounterLax isn't the end of the world because you'll either have your reflect chansey or you'll end up booming on counterlax to trade and then you should have enough tools left to get rid of chansey. The main risk imo isn't even Gengar (who is manageable with other ways and some players never use it so it's not always gonna be a problem) but it's CounterChansey, who can really screw you if you can't scout for it (you don't want to scout with surf for duh reasons). Rocks can play around you if you reveal surf at the wrong time etc but if you reveal either surf or hyper beam your opponent won't expect the other moves so they hide each other well. It's an interesting combination overall, quite risky but i believe it can be quite rewarding at times. I think it suits an aggressive team like this + an aggressive player like you. I definitely like it and I like little twists on movesets like this.

The importance of teambuilding is always underestimated in rby, it's not as demanding as in sm ofc but it has its needs. I don't believe you can consistently win if you choose your lead/filler/movesets randomly on your teams, which is why I like that you wrote down your build-thinking. I also believe that Snorlax is the best mon in RBY nowadays and that lax and chansey set are a huge part in RBY teambuilding, whether it's the ones you choose or how your team can handle all variants. We're seeing more and more specific sets (basics are fish/reflect then amnesia and counter, but now we're seeing reflect +amnesia/reflect + hbeam/reflect + sd/reflect + icebeam, and even more original ones like yours there! Jeez reflect is rly a godly move).

Anyways thank you for the great read, interesting insights and cool team/lax set, hope it helps ppl who want to get into the tier too

#12
 

Mr.E

unban me from Discord
is a Two-Time Past SPL Champion
Since you gots twittered/front paged and all, yeah I sorta agree. Of course the mechanics, mons and metagame change with each generation but it's ultimately remained the same strategy game at its core. With the relative lack of other levers to play with (fewer mons, moves, etc.), it lets a newer player focus more on the mental aspect of battling without having to worry as much about the other parts of the game. Those skills never stop being important wherever you use them, other aspects just start mattering more. That's why I quit playing current-OU in Gen 4 when Garchomp got banned, yet a few years later I was able to beat a legitimate BW RU player in a tournament setting (SPL) and was in the running to top cut a VGC event in 2015. Hell, neither of those formats even have much to do with OU, let alone the older metagames I'm most familiar with, but I have enough general experience and basic understanding of the game to adapt and apply that knowledge to metagames I'm less familiar with.

not even gonna get into my usual snorlax-is-ridiculously-overrated thing, meanwhile Peasounay... *ahem* Suffice to say a large extent of its usefulness is its stronger Explosion, which is great and all but you don't win games by going 1-for-1 and too frequently that's all I actually see out of it. It's slow and just a smidge not-quite-bulky-enough to comfortably switch into anything short of Chansey (which it can't even beat Reflect variants) or non-STAB Starmie. I don't see enough Fishlax in a post-Reflect world though, as I've said before with regard to keeping an eye on the tourney scene.
 

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