Zam doesn't answer all of those things though: if you need dual screen and encore, what's your fourth move?
Focus Blast? Okay, you have a 70% chance of beating leading tars, adamant weaviles (if those even still exist) and incoming heatrans (who the hell switches heatran in on alakazam?). Encore still messes with Azelf but you can't HURT it. Starmie hoses you, and ghosts put you in a 50/50 situation (you can encore and die if they attack, or switch out and they set up for free). That's BAD. What will they be using? A ghost type move? A Encored Ghost Move sounds pretty good setup shot for me. Thinking Snorlax, Blissey, Togekiss, maybe even Porygon-Z. All these pokemon enjoy free switch-ins.
So, if we don't like 50/50s and 70% chances...Psychic? Well now we lose to Tyranitar, all Weavile, and random steels can come in on us all day. Something with brick break is just going to come in and break your stuff.
No, not Psychic, that is just plain dumb. You are asking to get pursuited.
Alakazam is not OU material. What are you talking about. The move Alakazam would fear the most... is Sucker Punch. Why do you think it is not OU material? Sure, there are others, but Alakazam has it's own playing style, different from Azelfs. And the fact that it can both sweep and support... that makes it a deadly guessing game for your opponent. It never has been, and never will be. Neither are many others of the supposedly large format we're currently playing. They're situational at best, and that's all there is to it. OU is a 20-pokemon metagame, tops; you're just ruling out the fact that Pokemon is very much about surprise and janky tech. Exactly, it is. Support or Sweep. You choose, and if you're wrong, you're swept. Anything, if used correctly and with the element of surprise, can turn a match. And that is why gimmick options are very powerful. I'm not sure their common, but it is to huge advantage when the opponent gets confused over what you are running. I'm not saying "always run a gimmick", I'm just saying that it can be useful to use a different set every once in a while. That doesn't make it format-defining.
Comments in Bold. I still don't get why you don't belive it not to be OU material, so could you describe it better? Thanks : )














