This tier is cool: name a move that is relevant to the game of RBY and I'll find a pokemon that uses it. Landing sleep inducing moves is way harder than it is in RBY OU, and this is a good thing. Even more, at least at this stage, you can pick a pokemon out of a pool of 25 to possibly 35 and fit it into a team without looking like a fool. Granted, some picks are mandatory and you need to check some conditions when building but they don't look extremely oppressive. On the other hand, switching into attack isn't easy at all.
Amnesia, AgiliWrap and Swords Dance look scary, but I have seen very little of them in action. Amnesia users might be underrated.
Considering I have basically no experience (I don't even know the number of hits to KO for every pokemon) I'll try to contribute with some thoughts and rankings. At least you're going to appreciate the effort, then we'll find out how far I will end up from truth.
S+:
View attachment 466009 is the Tauros of the tier: its attacks are inevitable. But it's not as good due to speed, it can be outsped. CH rate also isn't quite the same and Fire Blast burns can slow it down. I like Substitute (and I don't understand Rock Slide).
Clear number one, it also wins a good number of one vs one matchups (loses to Staryu, Seaking, Abra, Machamp, Pinsir; could lose against Drowzee and Dragonair). Dittos are cruel.
S:
View attachment 466010 is very dangerous even though accuracy sucks. Fire Blast/Spin, Body Slam and Hyper Beam with good speed and CH rate, many players will sign up. Toxic also is an option to help against Omanyte and other Rapidash (making them pay for using Fire Spin), but I wouldn't drop Body Slam. Maybe Arcanine and Fearow have more room for Toxic.
S-
View attachment 466011 is #3, it isn't always used but you could make a case for it to be. Solid and its moves are quite inevitable. It also has room for Agility, unlike other pokemon, even though Hyper Beam can be very useful sometimes.
View attachment 466012 Rapidash2 has great stats but it doesn't learn Fire Spin. It can switch into Fire Blast and unleash the Body Slam + Hyper Beam antics, or use Toxic on Omanyte to make things easier for Rapidash.
A+:
View attachment 466013 best rock in the tier. It takes little damage from Fire-Types and Fearow, but its offense looks weak and relies heavily on paraslams. Fire Blast burns and Toxic happen, and I'm not sure the tier allows you to use Rest a lot even though Omanyte is the one who can make that happen. It's the slowest thing ever, and at first glance it relies on getting a hit off through Fire Spin misses. That's coming from a good special stat though, Surf is like 50% to OHKO Sandslash to give an idea. Hydro Pump anyone?
The whole thing about Omastar is that it's extremely important for the tier because it prevents Scyther (and Pinsir, to a lesser degree) from being degenerated, while also being great against Fearow and good against Fire-Types. I don't think you desperately need it to beat the latter two though, so you don't need to use it every single time. My S-ranked pokemon have better win rates.
View attachment 466014 is damn fast and hits hard. It usually goes down in two hits so it looks different from Zapdos, who can be a pest when not walled. Switching into EQ is nice, but it needs a crit to beat Nidoqueen anyway. Traits for a great late game cleaner.
A-:
View attachment 466015 is bulky enough to belong to many teams. It doesn't look happy to switch into attacks, but it will defend itself against any opponent when it's fresh and goes one vs one. I'm a bit surprised to have basic pokemon ranked so high but Thunder Wave makes miracles. Using sleep moves in this tier is hard and Drowzee's speed doesn't help him, maybe it can try its luck against Omanyte.
View attachment 466016 is a tough call. It's great when unstatused, it sucks when para'd. I assume it's going to be Surf/Thunderbolt even though some are going to use Psychic. I like the fact that it checks pretty much everything when it's unstatused, with its opponents desperately fishing for critical hits or paraslams, and the only pokemon that can switch into it safely multiple times are Grass-Types (Vileplume and Parasect have basically no offese other than sleep&stun, Weepinbell is basically KO'd by TWave even though it will OHKO with Razor Leaf if it connects and if it doesn't overpredict).
View attachment 466017 is a Scyther who got tempered with wisdom: it has better stats and Submission to hit Rock-Types; it isn't weak to Blizzard. Decent speed and damage output with Slash but it looks like the matchup with Nidoqueen is the thing that is really saving it: it takes very little damage from EQ and after that it can take 2 Blizzards (that will KO Scyther instead).
It shined in the few games it was used in, during the early stages of the tournament. Honestly I didn't see this coming. Staryu and Drowzee are being used way more so I still feel comfortable ranking them higher than Pinsir.
Moveset looks tricky, I think you want Slash and Submission, with SD and HB. I'm not on the Bind train.
General consensus is that Seismic Toss (specific for Gastly) is not even going to be considered.
View attachment 466018 has the combination of speed, Hypnosis and Amnesia, which is scary. It can outplay Seaking with the notorious Hypnosis into Amnesia sequence, after switching into Surf or coming in on a predicted switch or as a revenge killer. Other than that, it looks like something that doesn't want to switch into any attack. +2 Hydro Pump OHKOs Fire-Types but Poliwag doesn't look like a lead, I'd rather bring it out later.
To me it looks the best pokemon with a sleep inducing move but I might be too high on it: paralysis is terrible and Poliwag is so weak that it loses 1 vs 1 to Fire Types, not to mention that Fearow is faster and HB is a OHKO one third of the times. I need to see (or play) more games with it: I love its potential but I need to know better to rank it higher even though I am very tempted to.
View attachment 466019 looks unexciting to me because its offense other than Sleep&Stun is so pathetic, but it turns out it has decent usage and wins roughly half of the games it's used in. Maybe Sleep&Stun is enough.
Walling Staryu is nice and Vileplume is bulky in general, but it also has weaknesses. Speed isn't great. I think it's putting up decent performances because Vileplume is the way players are getting sleep off, so I don't see it getting better. It can only go down as soon as we figure other ways to get the sleep IMO. Poliwag/Gastly/Drowzee, arguably in this specific order.
View attachment 466020 is the slow, bulkier version of Poliwag and it uses TWave instead of Hypnosis. I'm not sure it can use Rest with things like Nidoqueen, Fearow, Pinsir or Machamp coming in, so running both Psychic and Surf looks reasonable to me. I predict it to be a respectable threat.
B:
View attachment 466026I had it listed lower initially, but I think that was wrong. It can do nasty things with AgiliWrap while being also a decent hit and runner if you need just a little contribution to secure the win. However, it's definitely not as threatening as Dragonite is in OU and finding an opening for Agility (without the risk of getting statused) isn't easy. Dragonair can use its normal speed with Agility as a backup in case it gets para'd.
Moveset is up for debate: Wrap, Surf and two of Agility, TWave and Thunderbolt.
It looks like Hyper Beam is good only when facing Abra or Drowzee. I'm going to stress once more that TWave is a great button in this tier.
I think you have to live with not being able to finish against Vileplume because Surf is better than Blizzard.
View attachment 466021 I need to see more action from it. It doesn't get used a lot but it has the traits to be a great revenge killer and possibly even more, even though it can't switch into attacks.
Extremely threatening but it gets OHKO'd by Hyper Beams, and there are faster pokemon (Fire-Types, Fearow, Scyther).
View attachment 466022 is the only pokemon that can take 3 EQs from Nidoqueen and live to tell the story (unless max rolls or crits happen). On paper it's great but if Fearow is kept under control by its weaknesses, Machamp is kept under control by its speed. It should also beat Seaking more often than not, Fire-Types need a Fire Blast burn.
View attachment 466023 some players use it but I don't like Psychic nor SToss, moves that look quite specific for Omanyte to me. Confuse Ray can be good sometimes, but I like Rapidash and Arcanine better. It can get OHKO'd by Sandslash and Graveler, and very often by +2 Hyper Beams (Rapidash and Arcanine can take it).
C:
View attachment 466025 is an even trickier call than Staryu, it looks extremely hit or miss depending on predictions. It loses many one on ones, most notably Nidoqueen and Fire-Types, but it does great against Water-Types, especially Amnesia users.
Anyway, you need to stay away from TWave and you also need to predict a switching in Nidoqueen by using Psychic instead of Thunderbolt.
View attachment 466024I don't think Graveler wants to switch into Fire Blast, my take is that you answer Fire-types with your own, and you want to paraslam them. Toxic isn't much of a problem because, unlike Omanyte, Graveler can hit hard. Graveler fails the Nidoqueen test, is slow and suffers some OHKOs.
Sure, it checks Fire-Types damn well, denying Fire Spin, and it helps a lot against Fearow. It can do good things if you can get it into the battlefield for free (maybe with a trapping move) and you can bail him out against Nidoqueen and Water moves.
View attachment 466027 potentially is the most dangerous pokemon in the tier. However, it can get OHKO'd by Rapidash/Arcanine and it's walled by Omanyte, Graveler and Gastly. Other than that it needs little setup to sweep entire teams. Scyther looks great on paper but reality is a different thing. It still looks underrated to me though.
View attachment 466062Sure, it's frail and Nidoqueen 2HKOs it (Vileplume can take 2 hits) but Weepinbell has some offense other than Sleep&Stun: Wrap means that you have the upper hand against para'd Fire-Types and Razor Leaf can force Water-Types out, making Stun Spore better.
View attachment 466037 I like Machamp better. Primeape is faster but it's significantly worse against Nidoqueen and Fire-Types.
View attachment 466038Another pokemon that fails the Nidoqueen test, while being naturally weak to Water and also not in a nice spot against unstatused Fire-Types.
D:
View attachment 466057doesn't match up well with Nidoqueen and Fire and Water types. Decent bulk (it can check Seaking), but good part of its game revolves around hitting good targets with Explosion. Mega Drain saves it from being walled by Rocks.
View attachment 466045 I don't like being walled by Nidoqueen. Things can only get worse with Graveler or possibly Vileplume.
View attachment 466039 Nobody talks about it because it's a worse Fearow (no Drill Peck and unfavorable stats) and nobody uses both, but I'll mention it here.
View attachment 466040 is damn slow, I have seen little from it and I wouldn't rule it out yet.
View attachment 466041 has Sleep&Stun and can push some damage, it just needs to find an opening. Its speed (most notably, being outsped by Nidoqueen) condemns it to mediocrity.
View attachment 466042 has great stats but it's too slow. Maybe it could do good things but I like the other Fire-Types (even Magmar) better because they deal better with Nidoqueen, Water-Types and Scyther.
View attachment 466043has Glare, Wrap and decent speed but it can't beat any of the top threats (Nidoqueen, Fire-Types, Water-Types) in a pure one on one. Stats are quite similar to Dragonair's, who looks like the better version of it.
View attachment 466046 is quite similar to Vileplume but it's way weaker to special attacks, and slower.
View attachment 466047 It looks like a lesser Muk, which isn't spectacular to start with. It doesn't match up well with Nidoqueen and Fire types. It looks like Explosion and Thunderbolt are all it can offer, and Muk's Explosion is better.
View attachment 466049 I'd just use Graveler. Onix is faster and has Bind but damage output is too low and it gets OHKO'd by Nidoqueen's Blizzard.
E:
View attachment 466048 I'd pick Electrode instead.
View attachment 466050 At first I thought it could at least learn Earthquake, it turns out it can't even do that. Not that it would help its case.
View attachment 466053 View attachment 466054 View attachment 466055View attachment 466056 too weak, I don't think they belong. They need to evolve.
View attachment 466052 View attachment 466051the way Fighting-Types always got disrespected in gen1, whether it was the cartridge game or trading cards, makes me sick to my stomach. To this very day. I needed to get this off my chest.