Old Gens [RBY OU] Alakazam

[Plague von Karma]

Alakazam
Ability: No Ability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Increasing in popularity in the modern RBY OU metagame, Alakazam has few truly losing matchups. With the most powerful Psychic in the tier backed by an incredible critical hit rate and Recover, it can break through anything: even Chansey crumbles to a mix of Special drops, full paralyses, and critical hits! Seismic Toss backs this process up nicely, giving it more attacking PP, as Psychic PP can be drained quite quickly. It also assists greatly against opposing Psychic-types. Thunder Wave allows it to trade paralysis with opposing users like Starmie, though be careful because, while getting paralyzed itself lets Alakazam block sleep well, it also hinders it significantly late-game. Alakazam makes an excellent special sponge if need be, walling the currently popular BoltBeam Chansey builds. It is physically frail, though, so it tends to crumble before strong attackers once paralyzed, particularly the mighty Snorlax.

For some exemplary Alakazam play, watch this replay from SPL XIII Week 1, featuring titans FriendOfMrGolem120 and Aliss!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-601774

 

[Amaranth]

there are a lot of words being spent on flavor that could be spent doing more useful things imo, but i think this is a stylistic choice more than an outright error
i would change the wording of the seismic toss descriptions at least though, it doesn't "thwart starmie builds" as much as give zam a tool to pressure psychic resists in general in combination with thunder wave
twave paragraph also a bit odd because its twaves aren't really "largely uncontested" (what does this even mean?) it usually has to trade twave with an enemy special sponge, and paralyzed zam loses one of its biggest lategame assets which is the ability to outspeed tauros (and rhydon and zapdos and snorlax and everything really)
mentioning it as a sleep sack is also odd, it's not particularly good at waking given 2hkos by lax and tauros, and any pokemon in the game can be a sleepsack really
i feel like there are a lot of words that sound good but mean nothing in this analysis, would like to see this reworked quite a bit, dm on cord if you need help/clarifications

 

[Plague von Karma]

there are a lot of words being spent on flavor that could be spent doing more useful things imo, but i think this is a stylistic choice more than an outright error
i would change the wording of the seismic toss descriptions at least though, it doesn't "thwart starmie builds" as much as give zam a tool to pressure psychic resists in general in combination with thunder wave
twave paragraph also a bit odd because its twaves aren't really "largely uncontested" (what does this even mean?) it usually has to trade twave with an enemy special sponge, and paralyzed zam loses one of its biggest lategame assets which is the ability to outspeed tauros (and rhydon and zapdos and snorlax and everything really)
mentioning it as a sleep sack is also odd, it's not particularly good at waking given 2hkos by lax and tauros, and any pokemon in the game can be a sleepsack really
i feel like there are a lot of words that sound good but mean nothing in this analysis, would like to see this reworked quite a bit, dm on cord if you need help/clarifications

I think I cleaned this up well enough. Not entirely sure what the "lot of words that sound good but mean nothing" bit means but I hope my edits solved the issue.

 

[Amaranth]

I think I cleaned this up well enough. Not entirely sure what the "lot of words that sound good but mean nothing" bit means but I hope my edits solved the issue.

QC 1/1 it's very good now, well done

 

[Adeleine]

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Alakazam
Ability: No Ability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

With its increasing popularity Increasing in popularity (current phrasing appeared to imply its popularity caused it to have few losing m/us; feel free to pick another phrasing as well) in the modern RBY OU metagame, Alakazam has few truly losing matchups. With the most powerful Psychic in the tier backed by an incredible critical hit rate and Recover, it can break through anything: even Chansey crumbles to a mix of Special drops, full paralyses, and critical hits! Seismic Toss backs this process up nicely, assisting greatly against opposing Psychic-types, but most importantly giving it more attacking PP, as Psychic PP can be drained quite quickly. It also assists greatly against opposing Psychic-types. Thunder Wave allows it to trade paralysis with opposing users like Starmie, though care should be taken when doing so, as be careful because, while getting paralyzed itself lets it Alakazam block sleep well, it also hinders it significantly late-game. Alakazam makes an excellent special sponge if need-be, allowing it to wall need be, walling the currently popular BoltBeam Chansey builds. It is physically frail, though, so once paralyzed, it tends to crumble before strong attackers once paralyzed, particularly the mighty Snorlax.

For some exemplary Alakazam play, watch this replay from SPL XIII Week 1, featuring titans FriendOfMrGolem120 and Aliss!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-601774

1/1

 

[Plague von Karma]

1/1

Th-that was fast...

Implemented!

 

[Eisenherz]