Gen 1 LeadBro Experiment [OU]

[Plague von Karma]

So this team is a bit of a "failed experiment" that I cooked up with Hipmonlee and Sevi 7 in the RBY Community Discord like a week or two ago. Been thinking about how to improve it. For historical context, Lead Slowbro was meta a bunch of years ago but has fallen off the radar hard. It's often seen as a funny gimmick these days, and it absolutely is, which is why I decided to see what I can cook up. It's absolutely hysterical when it gets the Amnesia off and starts wrecking house. I think I may have grown an addiction to watching teams helplessly scramble in an attempt to stop it.

Lead Slowbro tends to fall flat against sleep leads since true to its name, it's unforgivably slow. In fact, it ties with Snorlax for slowest in OU. However, when against a paralysis lead - especially Alakazam - it gets that Amnesia and kills like 2 or even 3 things before finally going down. So, how do we make up for the weakness? That's why we're here today.

For the record, I went with Corpse Party nicknames and you absolutely won't get the references unless you watched PewDiePie's playthrough in 2014 or something.

The Process​

So you don't often pick your lead first when teambuilding in RBY, but since I went in already wanting to lead Slowbro, here's the big lad. Hipmonlee came up with the idea of using Blizzard to go for an early-game freeze (or just stupid damage), and I really liked it. But more on that later.
Slowbro has a ton of issues with sleep, and I tend to use Alakazam as a sleep sack, so I decided to bring it along for the wild ride.
Chansey is a near-inevitable choice, the only question is what set you choose to run. I decided on Reflect+SToss for consistency. Once again, more on that later.
Well, we're playing RBY and Tauros is ubiquitous, so may as well add the bull now rather than later. Since this team has issues fighting Starmie, I replaced the usual Earthquake with Thunderbolt. More on that later too, though!
And this rounds out The Big 3. Went with PhysLax for reasons I'll go over in a bit. Leaving a lot out? Yep!
I didn't want to make a Sing Chansey team here since Slowbro already has the consistency of my thought process, so I defaulted to Exeggutor as my sleeper.

The Team

Takamine (Slowbro)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Amnesia
- Blizzard
- Surf
- Thunder Wave​

The star of the show, here's Slowbro. Now, you'll see there's no Rest, and there's a reason for it: one attacking move is far too specific. I tried a bunch of different move combinations, and this is what I settled on. It's absolutely stonewalled by Starmie, but staying in is too high a risk anyway in case it has Thunderbolt (which inadvertently made this a nice scout, actually). Outside of this though, Slowbro is effective enough to deal with everything else. Surf is used for Jynx and generally higher damage across the board thanks to STAB. While some people suggested Fire Blast to me, the consistency, specific matchups and risk of burning something weren't to my liking. If I burn something like Alakazam or thaw something, well, fuck me I guess. I went with Blizzard at Hipmonlee's suggestion, as the coverage with Surf is only resisted by waters - Starmie, which Slowbro won't stay in on without a stack of Amnesias anyway - which makes it nice and threatening. It also hits Zapdos really bloody hard, which comes in on an anticipated Rest and dies.

Generally, I want to see lead Alakazam, Jynx, Exeggutor and maybe Chansey. All of these can be exploited by "BroZam" nicely. If I fight against a sleep lead, I go to Alakazam to sack it, then go back to Slowbro for sleep clause abuse and swing for the kill. None of the mentioned Pokemon can actually stop Slowbro from picking up at least one Amnesia, which is all it needs a lot of the time. Chansey would be the only hypothetical risk in case it has Thunderbolt. Should also be noted that Slowbro doesn't give a rat's ass about being paralyzed, so it makes a good check to that biz. If anything, I welcome a Thunder Wave trade. However, it really struggles with Starmie...

I know I haven't sold this well, and that's because, well, it's really gimmicky and difficult to explain. It's the type of thing you can chuck on the ladder and it'll absolutely demolish people, but in tournament play...don't expect it to do so hot. It could make a hilarious counterteam though!

Tokiko (Alakazam)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Psychic
- Counter
- Thunder Wave
- Recover​

Alakazam is the sleep sack, but it has alternate purposes. I brought Counter since Slowbro draws Explosions once it gets going, and if it goes down...Alakazam can come in, force something out and KO a Pokemon with the stored Explosion damage. This most frequently happens if someone tries to go into a Tauros mirror, sees Alakazam, and runs away fearing paralysis. This also works with my own Self-Destruct Snorlax and Exeggutor, which I brought to try and force this situation on opponents as well. Once again, a gimmick, but it supports the nature of Slowbro. Alakazam is also really nice if I've taken out the special walls, as it can (theoretically) sweep.

Sachiko (Chansey) (F)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Reflect
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave​

This team lacks a bit of defensive backbone at times, so Reflect Chansey helps a lot. I went with Seismic Toss as the attacking move to make room for Thunder Wave, which helps support Slowbro in the case it ends up having to sweep late-game (which often happens if they lead Starmie). Seismic Toss also helps against low-HP foes like the aforementioned Starmie and Alakazam. It's a bog-standard set with no tricks or gimmicks involved, just your good ol Chansey.

Yoshikazu (Tauros) (M)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt​

Thunderbolt Tauros! This alleviates the Starmie issue a bit, as well as helps massively against Cloyster, which otherwise hurts the team with its Clamp antics. Without it, this team would have just been scrapped. Outside of this though, well, there's not much else to say. It's the bull, you use it to revenge kill the whole world and sweep in the end-game.

Ryou (Snorlax)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Self-Destruct
- Earthquake​

PhysLax is perfect for the team's objective and can help force the end-game to come sooner. Self-Destruct -> CounterZam is a hilarious play and it never gets old, but exploding on things is generally just really important for clearing the way to Tauros's success anyway. I also really needed an Earthquake user to deal with Jolteon, as otherwise it severely hurts the team. Throwing out a Hyper Beam against ~70% Chansey is always fun too.

Yuki (Exeggutor)
- Sleep Powder
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Double-Edge​

Exeggutor gives the team the consistent sleep it needs as well as an additional Explosion. Both of these are of great importance to the team's success: RBY Sleep is brutal and Explosion can clear the way for Slowbro...or CounterZam. I went with Double-Edge for another way to muscle past Alakazam and Jynx, but I've recently been wondering if it's worth bringing Mega Drain for Starmie. I mean, it does work...

Conclusion

​

So, this team is kind of a "for fun" thing, but I think it could potentially be taken further in some way. The team appears to have some potential but I think I'm too short-sighted to get it up to speed. The idea of Rhydon has crossed my mind, but then the team becomes far too slow and weak to Victreebel and JoltCloy teams. There's definitely something missing here.

Importable for Boomers

Takamine (Slowbro)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Amnesia
- Blizzard
- Surf
- Thunder Wave

Tokiko (Alakazam)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Psychic
- Counter
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Sachiko (Chansey) (F)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Reflect
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

Yoshikazu (Tauros) (M)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt

Ryou (Snorlax)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Self-Destruct
- Earthquake

Yuki (Exeggutor)
- Sleep Powder
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Double-Edge

Pokepaste for Zoomers

 

[Aegicrash]

I have nothing useful to say, but i'm still happy this is the 1st reply.

 

[Gen1UUFan]

Cool team, always good to see someone try to mix things up. With no E-quake on Tauros, definitely be wary of attacking Chansey (because of Counter). Also it's not super constructive, but I just want to add this team looks like Zapdos could give it a lot of trouble, especially in a Double Electrics team. Gengar pre-Sleep Clause could also sting. Cool team all-in-all though, very good job!

 

[Ortheore]

I'm confused, when was lead bro meta? I've literally never seen it lol. Looks like a fun idea though, I was theorymonning it on my own for a little bit but I think I decided not to bother with it. I think my reasoning was that if people actually knew how to play against it, it could easily backfire by letting the opponent get sleep for a relatively low cost. That said, never tested it so idk

 

[Plague von Karma]

I'm confused, when was lead bro meta? I've literally never seen it lol. Looks like a fun idea though, I was theorymonning it on my own for a little bit but I think I decided not to bother with it. I think my reasoning was that if people actually knew how to play against it, it could easily backfire by letting the opponent get sleep for a relatively low cost. That said, never tested it so idk

It was used quite a bit prior to 2010, if my memory serves me. I know some people on Azure Heights / PBS would use it. It was (and still is) largely a gimmick, though. Very good against bad ladder players today though, they all just autopilot with Alakazam.

I'd say with this team, it can be quite effective, especially against Jynx and Alakazam as mentioned. If Starmie is Blizz/Psy it can be nice too. However, it's really inconsistent...I'm not sure if I'd recommend it for a tournament game. It remains to be seen, though!