“Should RBY Jynx be placed on Fraud Watch!?”
Well… maybe. But probably not. It’s hard to say, really. Lately I’ve been finding myself thinking a lot more about this Pokémon as I’ve been getting back into RBY OU as a more casual player, and in contrast to my enthusiasm for the Cloyster + Starmie combination, I’m not putting RBY Jynx on Fraud Watch just yet but I genuinely struggle to see how it’s a Top 10 caliber pick in this metagame, at least from my battles.
I want to make something clear- I’m not necessarily saying Jynx’s VR placement should drop whenever the next update happens in 2026. What I am saying is that Jynx is a Pokémon whose appeal I feel like comes from its role compression rather than being the best at any one specific thing. Role compression is far from a bad thing, but it faces competition as a fast Psychic-Type, competition as a sleep user, competition as an Ice resist, and to some extent, as a win condition. In any of those specific roles I believe there to be better individual Pokémon, and that’s not considering any of Jynx’s other issues too. Unlike some of the Pokémon it’s competing for a team slot with, paralyzing this thing can absolutely ruin it with little upside for the Jynx user, and with how literally free (no, like, literally free, RBY has no switch punishing mechanics) it is to switch and pivot in RBY, I have often myself in situations where I want to make progress with Jynx and I just… can’t. As good as Ice and Psychic are in Gen 1, that typing is also a huge red flag for me, more specifically Jynx’s over-reliance on STAB usage for offense when those moves have lower PP than other offensive tools and can run into a wall against something like Chansey or other Psychic-Types. I’m genuinely asking, what is Jynx supposed to do then? Substitute doesn’t block status. Thief isn’t an option like it is for GSC Jynx. Switching out at a bad time can give your opponent more momentum than you’d like for them to get, and this is all assuming Jynx isn’t statused, in which case Lord help you as Jynx becomes complete bait for at least half of the metagame.
Jynx’s talents it does have and the success Lead Jynx can see on team compositions that appreciate that role compression the most in place of more dedicated options is enough for me to not want to say Jynx should be dropped in the VR, ultimately, but at least in my “filthy casual” experience, aside from actually learning RBY’s Types and mechanics as a newer player, I struggle to want to team build with this Pokémon since, in a generation with limited options, I’m almost always going to gravitate towards options that outclass Jynx in dedicated roles while still offering their own utility- just for one example, I’m taking Gengar’s less accurate sleep and different typing over Jynx’s such traits every single time in favor of the higher Speed, the Normal immunity and access to Explosion. As an Ice resist? Give me Starmie even on teams where Jynx could fit outside of the lead slot thanks to its better typing, better stats, Thunder Wave, type coverage, and access to Recover meaning a paralyzed Starmie can still use Ice-Type moves as a point of entry where Jynx only has Rest.
Well… maybe. But probably not. It’s hard to say, really. Lately I’ve been finding myself thinking a lot more about this Pokémon as I’ve been getting back into RBY OU as a more casual player, and in contrast to my enthusiasm for the Cloyster + Starmie combination, I’m not putting RBY Jynx on Fraud Watch just yet but I genuinely struggle to see how it’s a Top 10 caliber pick in this metagame, at least from my battles.
I want to make something clear- I’m not necessarily saying Jynx’s VR placement should drop whenever the next update happens in 2026. What I am saying is that Jynx is a Pokémon whose appeal I feel like comes from its role compression rather than being the best at any one specific thing. Role compression is far from a bad thing, but it faces competition as a fast Psychic-Type, competition as a sleep user, competition as an Ice resist, and to some extent, as a win condition. In any of those specific roles I believe there to be better individual Pokémon, and that’s not considering any of Jynx’s other issues too. Unlike some of the Pokémon it’s competing for a team slot with, paralyzing this thing can absolutely ruin it with little upside for the Jynx user, and with how literally free (no, like, literally free, RBY has no switch punishing mechanics) it is to switch and pivot in RBY, I have often myself in situations where I want to make progress with Jynx and I just… can’t. As good as Ice and Psychic are in Gen 1, that typing is also a huge red flag for me, more specifically Jynx’s over-reliance on STAB usage for offense when those moves have lower PP than other offensive tools and can run into a wall against something like Chansey or other Psychic-Types. I’m genuinely asking, what is Jynx supposed to do then? Substitute doesn’t block status. Thief isn’t an option like it is for GSC Jynx. Switching out at a bad time can give your opponent more momentum than you’d like for them to get, and this is all assuming Jynx isn’t statused, in which case Lord help you as Jynx becomes complete bait for at least half of the metagame.
Jynx’s talents it does have and the success Lead Jynx can see on team compositions that appreciate that role compression the most in place of more dedicated options is enough for me to not want to say Jynx should be dropped in the VR, ultimately, but at least in my “filthy casual” experience, aside from actually learning RBY’s Types and mechanics as a newer player, I struggle to want to team build with this Pokémon since, in a generation with limited options, I’m almost always going to gravitate towards options that outclass Jynx in dedicated roles while still offering their own utility- just for one example, I’m taking Gengar’s less accurate sleep and different typing over Jynx’s such traits every single time in favor of the higher Speed, the Normal immunity and access to Explosion. As an Ice resist? Give me Starmie even on teams where Jynx could fit outside of the lead slot thanks to its better typing, better stats, Thunder Wave, type coverage, and access to Recover meaning a paralyzed Starmie can still use Ice-Type moves as a point of entry where Jynx only has Rest.
