I recently had the idea of a GSC metagame using the rules of the Battle Tower from Crystal, as opposed to the rules of standard play. For those not familiar with the Battle Tower, you challenge using a team of only three Pokémon, not the usual six. There is also an item clause, so that any given item may only be used once on a given team. I imagine this type of play to be much more fast-paced than regular GSC, for various reasons:
1. Reducing teams from 6 to 3 makes it that much harder to cover all possible threats. Stall becomes considerably more difficult to successfully pull off, if not downright unviable. Apart from that, a lower number of Pokémon should also let it take less time to KO them all, intuitively speaking.
2. Leftovers on only one Pokémon is also something that will surely make it more difficult to play a slow-paced game. In itself, it deprives two-thirds of the team of passive recovery taken for granted, but the remaining items, such as berries, type-enhancing or stat-boosting items, are often more offensive in nature, bringing us to the third point.
3. Marowak. It's the only OU standard which does not use Leftovers in the first place. This alone would likely make it much more popular than it already is
in standard GSC. With less things to check or wall it, I imagine it could run rampant in a Battle Tower metagame.
As a whole, I think the format could potentially be very far from GSC as we know it. Is Snorlax still as good as it is? What about the legendary Electrics? Are there any Pokémon that are good in GSC, but would no longer be good in Battle Tower? Most importantly, would you play this format if it existed?
1. Reducing teams from 6 to 3 makes it that much harder to cover all possible threats. Stall becomes considerably more difficult to successfully pull off, if not downright unviable. Apart from that, a lower number of Pokémon should also let it take less time to KO them all, intuitively speaking.
2. Leftovers on only one Pokémon is also something that will surely make it more difficult to play a slow-paced game. In itself, it deprives two-thirds of the team of passive recovery taken for granted, but the remaining items, such as berries, type-enhancing or stat-boosting items, are often more offensive in nature, bringing us to the third point.
3. Marowak. It's the only OU standard which does not use Leftovers in the first place. This alone would likely make it much more popular than it already is
in standard GSC. With less things to check or wall it, I imagine it could run rampant in a Battle Tower metagame.
As a whole, I think the format could potentially be very far from GSC as we know it. Is Snorlax still as good as it is? What about the legendary Electrics? Are there any Pokémon that are good in GSC, but would no longer be good in Battle Tower? Most importantly, would you play this format if it existed?
