Gen 1 [3k Post] [RBY UU] Two-Pronged Attack!

Plague von Karma · Nov 13, 2021

Huh? I need to get a life.

Hello there! If you're reading this, I have reached 3,000 posts on Smogon. This is certainly not something I expected when I came back to this site all that time ago, but I'm glad I did. I'll be using this RMT to share some stuff about my experiences, as well as show one of my favourite teams I've built for RBY this past year. There are many, but this one has been my most successful by a long shot. I built this with the help of resident UU sweat Volk and have used it a couple of times in bracket, and a lot during testing with dear friends Shellnuts and Amaranth.

Thanks to resident OUFL ausma for such incredible work!

The concept is a bit hard to grasp: mount a crazy offence with the combination of Electabuzz and Kadabra, while also maintaining a strong offensive and defensive core with the help of Gyarados. This team likes to have its foot on the accelerator from turn 1, forcing out any lead Tentacruel while hampering any progress Kadabra or Hypno would want to make, all while not committing to our Psychic-types too hard. The best part of the Kadabra and Hypno matchups is that Electabuzz gets to incapacitate them without compromising my own, thus giving me a significant advantage within a few turns. Hypno can be a bit difficult, though. While many playing this team will urgently want to Thunder Wave, don't: that's a newbie trap. Body Slam puts Kadabra into range for a lot of moves later on, encouraging it to Recover while risking paralysis every turn; this also covers early Dugtrio switch-ins and paralyzing it can instantly win you the game. This team has numerous win conditions that can happen from that play and they're all very grim for the opponent. Fair warning, though: piloting it is very difficult, and it is definitely not my most consistent team despite its high points.

As a rule of thumb, keep that accelerator on full throttle: don't make any unnecessary switches, make those midground options count, and go for those big plays when you have the opponent dancing in the palm of your hand. Oh, and that title? It's a reference to some crummy old Yu-Gi-Oh card! It's terrible, always has been, being a one-for-three...yep, not two-for-one, the other way around and take another away. Real bad. It's just got an amazing ring to it!

The Team

Electabuzz
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Body Slam

Leading off with Electabuzz is incredibly underrated, even with the Aerodactyl advances made a while back that made it more popular. I strongly believe that it's one of the best options available if you can fit Kadabra into the team as well, as it functions similarly while not compromising your own. When you're "ahead in Psychic-types" so to speak, you can gain a massive advantage that can be pretty hard for the opponent to come back from. Another thing I like about Electabuzz is its incredible movepool, giving it two midground options in Psychic and Body Slam. Some like Seismic Toss over either, but I say to you no! Don't drop either! Body Slam is amazing, as I'll establish, making Psychic the "least good" move on the set. A single Psychic Special drop makes Electabuzz significantly more threatening and lets it reapply paralysis drops to keep the Speed up against opposing paralyzed Pokemon, this is very, very important. You can fish for this quite a bit late-game where there's probably a bunch of paralyzed Pokemon and Electabuzz has taken it itself; this isn't uncommon, as Electabuzz is very capable of taking paralysis to sleep block later. Psychic plays into this further, as a common sleeper early-game is Venusaur.

Incapacitating Kadabra with Electabuzz grants the following;

One less Tentacruel check for the endgame.
Healthy Kadabra and Hypno for later, both of whom are extremely strong mid-game threats.
A sleep absorber because lord knows the Kadabra player is clicking Thunder Wave immediately. Electabuzz doesn't mind if you aim to win with your Kadabra, after all, and sleep blocking against Venusaur is great for this team.

Kadabra simply cannot afford to take this risk, but because the current perception of Electabuzz is mostly "different Kadabra" in the sense of using one or the other, it's taken anyway. It's not just good against Kadabra, either, it can realistically wrestle down Hypno once it's caught in a Rest loop situation: a critical hit Thunderbolt is super bad for it, and it's not difficult to paralyze because a ton of players sack it for that. It doesn't want to be paralyzed against Electabuzz because a single crit quite literally means death here, and lower Speed means it needs more proactive Rests. I prefer to bring Electabuzz in on Hypno once it has already been weakened, as it's best at wrestling it down there. Bringing Hypno down requires a concentrated effort from multiple Pokemon, and Electabuzz can always be the one to deal the finishing blow while pressuring it super hard thereafter. If you're against a lead Hypno, though, it can be troublesome, and I do see this as a weakness with the team.

Enough about that, though. Electabuzz's ability to force out Lead Tentacruel - arguably the most common option in the current "Lead Triangle" meta of Tentacruel-Hypno-Kadabra - is also fantastic, as people often use Dugtrio to double through a potential Thunder Wave. Sound bad? It's not, use Body Slam instead, it's always the best midground option here and you're getting some nice damage regardless. Play proactively and only use Thunder Wave when you're sure it'll work, and Electabuzz will quickly become one of your favourite Pokemon to use. My general thought process is; Thunderbolt for damage, Thunder Wave when something is forced to stay in, Body Slam when you think a switch may happen, and Psychic when you think something is coming in to block Thunder Wave (anything para'd) or to try and get better damage rolls on Tentacruel. This'll get you far, and it's quite straightforward.

Kadabra
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Kadabra is gonna be one of your most important win conditions if you're sacking Electabuzz, so don't use it too liberally like you may on other teams. It may have Recover, but both Electabuzz and Kadabra being paralyzed really sucks, as then Tentacruel takes over. Use Kadabra to gain momentum against Tentacruel, but don't actually press your advantage on it. Tentacruel almost always wants to leave the moment Kadabra comes in, so use it to threaten it out and then gain momentum off of your double switch. Because you can Recover the chip damage off later (think resting Hypno), Tentacruel isn't making any progress if you don't commit too hard, and your (hopefully) smart switches ensure its pivots aren't swinging momentum away from you. This can be a very difficult concept to nail down, so don't feel bad if you're incapable of picking it up immediately, just play the tier a lot. Oh, and double to Tentacruel or Gyarados on an opposing Dragonite switch-in if you see it coming, then paralyze or Blizzard it respectively. AgiliWrap is largely ineffective if Dragonite is paralyzed, and it also stops any of the alternative sets...except maybe mono-Agility. Since Wrap Pivot Dragonite sets are gaining popularity and mono-Agility isn't too hot, you're still on high stonks here. Blizzard Tentacruel and Gyarados are just more definitive outs and force more convincing damage though, so go to them first.

Tentacruel
- Surf
- Blizzard
- Wrap
- Rest

The tier's apex predator, Tentacruel is an obligatory pick on this team. I think you could fit Swords Dance onto this set in some fashion, maybe even with Hyper Beam to consistently bring down opposing Tentacruel, but I'm not sure. Our main purpose here is to bring in Gyarados or Poliwrath more easily through Wrap or predictions against Dugtrio; particularly, getting Gyarados in undamaged is one of the most important ways to make progress in this tier, at least in my opinion. Oh, and don't play freeze wars if possible, a frozen Tentacruel really fucking stinks for this team. A thing I should emphasise here is that because our offense is a bit lopsided, Tentacruel is quite important for ensuring everything goes smoothly. If you're wanting to fire off some big damage, you'll want Tentacruel to come in on Wraps first and foremost: don't go trying to wake up Electabuzz or Kadabra if they took sleep every time, get fancy with your jellyfish dictator. While its fast Wrap is a godsend, Tentacruel's Surf is no joke, even on resisted hits, and dishing that out is pivotal to succeeding. If you hit one of those Normal-types, they are taking permanent, massive damage, and this team definitely struggles against them at times.

Hypno
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Rest

If Tentacruel is the apex predator, Hypno is our big secondary consumer. Thanks to Poliwrath being our resident sleeper, we can afford a more aggressive Hypno set using Seismic Toss. Once either Kadabra or Hypno have been brought down or otherwise incapacitated by Electabuzz, our Hypno can take on the remaining Psychic-type favourably. However, don't commit to it completely: if you're in a Hypno mirror, many like to Rest at around 47% to avoid being KOed by two subsequent Seismic Tosses, so you can bring in Poliwrath on a predicted one to get in big damage with Earthquake and/or threaten with Hypnosis once it's woken up. In the event our Electabuzz/Poliwrath plans go wrong, that's ok, because Seismic Toss Hypno alone has very good matchups against both Psychic-types, so send them to Destination: Fucked!

Hypno is also our key defensive Pokemon on this team: we don't have a whole lot of it, so the pressure is on. Hypno warps offensive play significantly because its mixed bulk and typing are just so, so, so good. Bringing it down requires a significant effort and its Psychic is nuclear, ensuring it isn't passive in the slightest. Once the opposing Psychic-types are down, it just goes mental and can frankly bring a team down on its own sometimes. I've had times where it's just...won because the opposing Hypno got written an obituary and Kadabra was paralyzed. However, while this is all well and good, make sure to Rest sparingly: those Rest turns are where the real pressure begins, and you've got to ensure it wakes up at a time where it can get at least some damage off in return there. Rest "loops" are your least ideal situation because a critical hit ruins everything, and you're going to see them a lot in this fast-paced format. At the same time though, this is your defensive piece, so you have to balance it. See why this gets complicated? Yeah.

Gyarados
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Hydro Pump

You can maybe play around with your coverage here, but I like this selection for the raw power. I know some players like Thunderbolt, though! Bringing in a healthy Gyarados on something that can't paralyze it is an incredibly good position to be in, allowing it to just be this demonic battering ram that can't really be stopped if it's brought in healthy. A single critical hit from this demon - especially with Body Slam or Hydro Pump - can cripple Pokemon just off of the damage, it's very difficult to come back from. If you can bring it in on a predicted Dragonite switch-in, prepare to have a party, because that dragon is (hopefully) dying to Blizzard and now you're staring them down with a big scary sea serpent. Also, if your Kadabra and Electabuzz got magnificent Thunder Waves off, Gyarados can run train over teams in the end-game, don't be opposed to saving it for a physical-centric one. This team lets you improvise a lot, so be creative.

Gyarados should be dispatching Pokemon like Kangaskhan and weakened Tentacruel for the team; it's your main physical attacker on this lopsided team comp, so use it wisely and precisely. Prioritise dealing as much damage as possible before it's forced out, try to go two, maybe three for one after your opening and you should be home free. It works best once Poliwrath has gotten sleep off, as that's your free entry pass.

Poliwrath
- Hypnosis
- Blizzard
- Submission
- Earthquake

Poliwrath has been on a downturn, but Volk suggested it to fit into the last slot of this team. It's about as consistent as my thought process - which, to say nothing else, is quite grim - but it's a very strong Pokemon in the early-game with this set. Essentially, it's compressing the roles this team was left without during its creation: this team doesn't check Persian too well, had few Articuno "checks", and lacked a sleeper because we wanted an aggressive Hypno. Poliwrath fills both of these roles while serving as a secondary Dugtrio check, which is perfect! You can definitely play around with this slot a bit more; Omastar is also effective, but the team needs a sleeper, which Poliwrath fulfills. I don't think this Pokemon is "UU", but being a C+ on the VR in this tier is very good on its own.

Getting Poliwrath in early can be difficult, but once Hypno has been wrestled into Rest range it's usually shining there. This is something I'm still working out honestly, it does sometimes feel a bit awkward. The key thing here is ensuring it's coming in on something slower than it and then forcing that sleep, which is normally going to be that Hypno that was forced to Rest. You really, really want that Hypnosis to hit. It should be noted that Poliwrath's Earthquake deals JUST enough damage to force a Recover out of Kadabra, so don't be afraid to stay in if it switches in and takes that damage. Normally, I keep pressing when 49-51% is dealt, but sometimes the roll will end up as like 45% so it's bleh. This pressure will sometimes make a player lose patience and try to kill Poliwrath, in which your job is done: revenge kill it and continue piling on pressure.

Replays

Possible Improvements

This team has some potential for enhancement and I think variants could become a very real team style. Electabuzz + Kadabra is a very, very good offensive core when played right and doesn't need much to gain nigh-unstoppable momentum. It's near-impossible to get Tentacruel in reliably against it, and it falls to the rest of the opponent's party to break free. However, this team isn't perfect...

:tentacruel:

By nature, this team is very special-heavy, so the offense is lopsided. Psychic Special drops aren't a magic wand and it falls to Gyarados and Poliwrath to pick up the pieces. This isn't ideal, as they're mixed attackers...perhaps implementing Persian over Gyarados can work, but then the pressure for mixed offense is put more heavily on Poliwrath, and then Tentacruel becomes even more important for the Water offense. I also think that Haunter is still a fine Pokemon in this tier despite lowered opinions and it is dangerously close to mauling this team. Hell, it was one of the reasons I put Psychic on Electabuzz, so it could resist Thunderbolt and fire back.

:tentacruel:

Poliwrath isn't exactly being used by choice, it's the main thing keeping the team together. The combination of sleep, physical bulk, and STAB Submission is super helpful but it has the consistency of, to quote one of my replays, a wet napkin. If it misses Hypnosis, it fucking sucks, and it's often using this in the face of the Vice President of the tier, Hypno...yeah, not great if it stays in. Any seasoned player should switch out in fear, but I've seen some daredevils gambling on that miss and it gets hairy so quickly from there. Regardless, it has a good matchup against Persian and Kangaskhan while having just the right sleep and typing available, so it works out.

:tentacruel:

Lead Kadabra may be the better option, but I'm not sure. This leaves it open to exploitation by Hypno really early on, which contradicts our aim, but Electabuzz isn't very consistent against it. Maybe I'm just playing wrong, which is normally what turns out to be the reason!

:tentacruel:

Gyarados's coverage may have more room for optimisation. BlizzBolt feels very enticing to have it be a "Water-type that beats other Water-types" but I also like Hydro Pump's big numbers, especially against the Normal-types. I'd say calc and play around with it, see what fits your playstyle and routing. This Pokemon is seriously diverse and you can really optimise it.

Take it for a spin!

Pokepaste for zoomers

Electabuzz
Ability: none
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Body Slam

Kadabra
Ability: none
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Tentacruel
Ability: none
- Surf
- Blizzard
- Wrap
- Rest

Hypno
Ability: none
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Rest

Gyarados
Ability: none
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Hydro Pump

Poliwrath
Ability: none
- Hypnosis
- Blizzard
- Submission
- Earthquake

Shoutouts

When I initially returned to Smogon, it was thanks to someone called Molk. He's not around these days, but he'll be remembered, I'm sure. I was in a horrifying mental state at the time, not long coming out of a large amount of "drama" in SmashCords. I went over this in my Well Thread if you're interested in that story. I didn't truly heal for a very long time, even now I don't really think I'm that stable despite appearances. However, while that's the case, people here seem to trust me with the positions I have on this site, and for that I have to thank you all. In exchange for that trust, I've poured an awful lot of time into ensuring that I make the best use of that power for those who want to break into RBY. I believe I have succeeded in that goal, with the community growing significantly as of late. In fact, the Community Discord is the largest of the gen specialists, at over 500 members now. I hope to see this generation's community finally integrate properly with the greater Smogon community after years of neglect, and there are certainly a few tournaments where I think this can work. Looking at you, NU guys!

Anyway, there are a few people on this site who have particularly helped me, be it when working on stuff or just as fellow people. I may have forgotten a few as I'm frankly not very smart, but hey, here we go. It could also come off as repetitive at times if you're reading them all, but that's ok, yeah?

Finland
Girl, you're the light of my life. The amount you've done for me is immeasurable. You're always yapping about how you don't think you're doing enough for me as a person, but crikey, you've supported me when I'm at the worst and accepted me for who I am, rather than what I do. I can't put into words how much I admire you, and I think that's why our relationship has been blossoming so well. Thank you for being you, as well as everything you've done for this community.

SBPC
I don't know why the Smogon Dystopia™ has historically failed to acknowledge you, but times seem to be changing. Your outgoing nature, honesty, and not fearing being wrong are rare traits on the internet and I can see you succeeding at anything you put your mind to. Your luck may be one of the worst eldritch horrors I have ever had the misfortune of witnessing, but nobody can knock your teambuilding or your passion. Anyone who takes the time to arrange their Pokemon so they look good in Team Preview is automatically a Top 10 user on this site. You keep thinking you don't deserve what you've got, but I disagree: you deserve it more than anyone on here.

ausma
It's crazy how I saw you in the Joker SmashCord one day, forgot about you the next, and then saw you were out here getting Pre-Contributor on Smogon. Now you're OUFL. How does that work? Thanks for always being a caring ear and giving RBY articles - including this RMT - some much-needed killer artwork. You need to be less modest, though, you're amazing and the world needs Confident Connie (©2021 ausma Research and Development Inc.). Also, sorry about that one server and the admittedly heavy art deadline resulting my scatterbrained nature. You deserve so much and I hope that happens. Regardless, I hope to continue working with you in the future, there is so much we can do together, bestie!

Amaranth
You're not afraid to call me an idiot and that's more than I can say for most people I know. Every conversation we have always has some kind of funny side to it and it's really because of you ~~having your humour just as destroyed by modern internet as I do~~. I feel like I can be open about myself around you because of that combination of factors and I think you can find confidence in that. While I tend to be a worrywart towards the people around me, I sometimes feel a bit lost when I'm the one that needs to be worried about, and I can trust you to help in those situations. You're an astonishingly hard worker and teaming up with you in RBYPL II has certainly given me insight into what you're capable of. Here's to winning the whole event, eh? Eh~?

hannah_xyz
I'm glad we met up again after so much time, small world innit? Same school, ended up using the same site, so on so forth. I feel like you have a lot of potential to do well if you fired up your competitive spirit, maybe we should see more of that!

Ratio
It's interesting how we both migrated over here from the King K. Rool SmashCord and both became staff around here. You very much deserve the responsibility of where you are right now. I unfortunately don't have many one-on-one conversations with you these days, but you're always in my thoughts, y'hear? Keep it up, lad.

TMan87
You're a precious cinnamon roll and deserve the world. What more can I say? You're an all-around good person and a very passionate leader of your section on Smogon. I'm slacking a lot in terms of getting into it, but it seems we've found a mutual love for Fire Emblem anyway, ain't that great, haha. Every interaction we have is just uplifting.

Enigami, Shellnuts, & Volk
Geez, what can I say here? You three are some of the most intelligent people I know. Like, it's astonishing. You always have something to contribute and I always learn something from it. Despite that, I sometimes feel a bit inadequate: just a bit hard to come back with something tangible. Maybe that's not what I need to do, though. I have my moments and you're always there to be vocal when I screw something up, thank you.

Annika
I'm glad I trusted you with dealing with all the weird blokes I kept getting mixed in with back in May, you're very relatable haha. Thanks for all you do for the community, as well as all the intriguing rabbit holes you've dragged me down this whole year.

Zokuru AKA Zokuwu
We don't agree on everything but every conversation we have is honestly really nice, I wish we talked a bit more these days. You're very strongly opinionated and the way you explain your side of things is very precise and insightful despite the odd language barrier here and there. Hearing about how you've trained a lot of the French RBYers was pretty amazing, really. You're a bit of a nutter, but that's what we need. I'm just glad I didn't let my nerves get the better of me early on, y'know? Under that hard exterior, you're actually a bit of a softie!

Roy
Not known you for long, but every lengthy discussion we've had has been what I can only describe as "stimulating". There's a lot behind everything you say, it's very raw. You're very mature and supportive, I definitely get those dad vibes in that regard. Don't be afraid to come to me if you're on a downturn though, alright..? The supportive types of people are often the ones that need it the most themselves.

Fivell
I see boundless potential in you and I think you'll become a great player if you keep pressing on. You're always a joy to talk with and consistently have the best memes. I know the occasional misstep on your part may make you feel a bit iffy, but I swear down girl, you're just fine. Thanks for always being here for me.

HSOWA
I sometimes feel like I give you a hard time...if I'm right, you don't deserve it. You're one of the hardest workers in the RBY Community when it comes to tournaments, at least in my opinion, and I'm glad to have worked with you at least once. I'm always glad to find fellow Brits on Smogon that can relate to the plight of living in a country where all you see on the roads are dead pheasants and all you hear is "innit bruv".

Melanie uwu
Girl, you need to build up that confidence so badly. You have your hot takes, but you're deathly afraid of having to defend those takes on account of potentially being wrong. Here's the thing though: you've been right on many of those occasions, hell, your spiciest one is being proven right for this meta as we speak! Are you wrong, or are you just ahead of your time? You're rapidly improving and I think you can be a very strong presence if you just plucked up the courage to talk more. You have it in you, I promise!

Unowndragon
When we teamed for the first RBYPL (it was that right) I found you were really enjoyable to talk with and I liked the unique team compositions you'd make. I always get a bit anxious about telling people stuff like that long after the time period but Torchic just so happened to tell you, aaa! It's all good though. It seems pac wants to bridge the eastern communities more, so maybe there's more interesting stuff to come from that whole thing.

Estarossa
Definitely had our moments, but our combined efforts to get RBY and GSC recognised and integrate with the UU Community have been really enjoyable. I can trust you to "rationalise" the stuff the other side says and play bad cop when needed, which is something not many are always willing to do! I've learned a lot being around you and hope that can continue. Nobody with a Claude profile picture can be bad, surely?

Heavyweapons Mann
I feel like people give you a tough break that you don't deserve and I wish we talked more outside of those funny wall messages. It's just unfortunate that I'm basically only on Discord these days. I don't know you too well outside of the occasional Smogon post, but, well, know you're brightening up my day a smidge with those messages, yeah?

Archiiiie17
I don't know you very well but you frequently take the time to message me, see how I'm doing, etc. Sometimes you've caught me at pretty low points and having that little boost helps me get through my day. I don't know you very well, but I can tell you're not a bad person.

There are some other people I want to shout out but this is honestly getting way longer than it should. Let's see...
Koalacance, Aliss, Eve, Martin, Unicorns, steelskitty, kjdaas, Lilburr, Bandkrook.
Hit me up!

Gosh, this is worded like I'm leaving or something. Don't fret, I don't think I'm hoofing it for some time, and that's everyone's problem!

ausma · Nov 13, 2021

you are an absolute treat of a person and everything you do is beyond inspiring and beaming with passion and energy; i’m really honored i can be apart of that, and i look forward to seeing what the future holds :>

(really awesome team as well)

Amaranth · Nov 13, 2021

in the spirit of not being afraid of calling you an idiot, i think electabuzz sucks and running it is self-sabotage. try leading something else and running a good fast pokemon instead of a bad fast pokemon

in all seriousness, i knew that we would get along when i saw you were revamping the entire fucking dex. that's the sort of dedication i fully admire. congrats on 3k, here's to an even better, even sweatier future

Plague von Karma · Nov 14, 2021

Well, to my surprise, EB0LA brought this team to RBYPL II's Semi Finals against Shellnuts, and managed to win out! Definitely a shocking turn of events for him to strike down my side with my own team, but I'm glad someone way better than me managed to pilot it. Using it to try and break Shellnuts out of his high Lead Kadabra usage, it seems like it was an effective counter-team! Some lucky freezes aside, it was a great game to watch live.

Here's the replay!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1uu-593410

Good luck to Dewgongs in the finals!

Gen 1 [3k Post] [RBY UU] Two-Pronged Attack!

Plague von Karma

Banned deucer.

ausma

token smogon furry

Amaranth

Plague von Karma

Banned deucer.

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