I would like to talk about our little friend : )
| 13 | Lapras | 3 | 2.00% | 66.67% |
We're only in week 6 and already Lapras has been brought more times than all of last season (a meager two!). It's currently tied with Slowbro as the most brought UU pokemon, surging past the wrappers and even Articuno. Granted, it's only sitting at two percent usage and these sample numbers are tiny, but something about Lapras feels different this SPL. It feels like players are trying to use it in new ways to address new trends, fitting it on Chanseyless or using it to punish Jynx, so I thought I'd briefly analyze how it performed in each game and give my thoughts.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-902458
After a Starmie freeze on Zam, Lap and Egg switch into each other and Lap chokes a blizzard, getting slept. It then manages to wake up on Chansey early. Serpi sends it in on the double down after he blows up Chansey with Egg, but ends up slamming into the Tauros instead of blizzing because Starmie is healthy. It consequently dies. I think this choice shows that Lap is quite feckless into a healthy Starmie, despite it's ability to hit Starmie being one of it's main selling points. You'd ideally want to rip your strong attacks, but Lap in this situation has to predict and fish for hax, despite being a pokemon that doesn't have the longevity for this sort of play. This is especially bad given that Lap is frequently being put on Chanseyless teams now, which Mie ends up being a huge problem for. Overall I wasn't impressed with Lap's performance here.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-904767
We have been living in Jynx hell, and LNumbers brought Lap with a very cool line to punish it, using Lap like a sing chansey to bully paralyzed Jynx. This ended up paying off enormously, because LNumbers was ultimately able to push sleep past the Jynx onto Chansey, and from there it proceeded to dominate, walling cloy and busting everything with it's strong attacks.
However, this success hinged upon a sing coinflip on Chansey, where 45% of the time Lapras would've gotten paralyzed and become completely useless. Even as this Lapras was dominating, notice how many turns LNumbers is forced to switch out and dance around twaves. Well positioned for sure, but it has me eyeing the plesiosaur sideways.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-907230
Similar story to the last game, where Lapras is able to get a really strong position early by slamming Jynx. I have to acknowledge how strong this line can be with the para potential as Bee's Mie came in on slam, it definitely is quite a bit more forceful than a standard sing Chansey. Anway, later on it trolls Bee's parad tauros and does heavy damage to Bee's Zap. Overall it was a pretty strong performer in this game, even before that nonsense.
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Final thoughts:
Although none of the games show it here, Lap is obviously great into the many Chanseyless teams on the rise, and the Jynx line is a great solution to Jynx teams as well. I think LNumbers' game vs Bee showed its potential the best, where the fear of sing allows Lapras to pressure Jynx without having to actually ever click the move.
(basically)
Ultimately though, I don't think I'm a believer. Things might be swell for Lapras now, but it feels too inconsistent and generally bad. I especially hate how easily it lets in twavers and is forced to flee from them at every possible opportunity, and the lack of Chansey on these teams only makes this problem worse. I think a solution to these Jynx/Chanseyless trends will have to come from the top 11 and adjustments in their movesets/play rather than a niche UU pick. Because at a certain point, fear isn't enough. You will have to swing. And when you do, Lap will choke and fall on its face.
