GSC OU Charizard Team

OK Charzard (as you may or may not know) is not just for the early day fanboys of the anime and TCG, in honesty I never felt it was that great in gen 1 either; in gen 2 however it became a dangerous brute. Gaining Belly Drum and Rock Slide it was able to cover Earthquake in the physical side as well as becoming the fastest Belly Drummer in the game. Its speed tie with Zapdos plus the fact it can administer big hits with Fire Blast, without the need for a setup can make it tricky Pokemon to counter once it's in play. The reason it isn't that popular is because it is a hard pokemon to bring into play; it doesn't really synergize that well with anything and doesn't have good defensive characteristics itself. The payoff is high with this guy tho, he's great at putting opponents in check mate if you patiently wait for the right moment to use it.

Raikou @ Leftovers
Thunder, HP Ice, Rest, Sleep Talk

Forretress @ Leftovers
Spikes, Toxic, Curse, Explosion

Kingdra @ Leftovers
Dragonbreath, Surf, Rest, Sleep Talk

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Lovely Kiss, Curse, Return, Rest

Rhydon @ Leftovers
Curse, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Roar

Charizard @ Leftovers
Belly Drum, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Fire Blast

Essentially you use Raikou and Kingdra to spread paralysis (don't get cocky taking on electrics with Kingdra). This team didn't pop out the box as being super useable, it's a little weak to Snorlax because it leans on Forretress so much to check it, once I learned you have to dance around a little fishing for that Fire Blast it actually worked quite well. If I remember rightly a fully cursed Forretress doesn't OHKO a fully cursed Lax with Explosion? So Toxic just feels right there, obviously unless it's a fire lax you should be able to take all of them with this Forretress. Rhydon because he's awesome offensively and defensively, he really helps checks Snorlax, kills Skarmorys if Lax sleeps them and can sweep and devastate with paralysis spread. Kingdra speed ties with Nidoking and doesn't have the electic weakness, but still can't really stay in against electrics. Dragonbreath is pretty cool, I usually just session it and use the para to set up for Rhydon or Charizard. Charizard really you try to save to the end (unless you see an oppertunity to check mate, or have to play it). To sweep with 'zard you need to have their electrics paralysed, damage doesn't matter, about 80% health on their water types (depending on the poke) and Machamp, paralysis doesn't matter unless it's Starmie, 70% health on Lax?? I think?. Miltank can be a problem as it speed ties, it's better to try and paralyse it. Eggy can survive F.Blast with a low roll but not by much, spikes are great. Umbreon can be a problem for this team, sometimes Rhydon can suck a Toxic being the only phazer and that really screws him. Sometimes Umbreon can be the window to Belly Drum with Charizrd though as it isn't immediately offensive.

 

Marowak seems super scary for this team. So is Rhydon. And Steelix once Kingdra gets blown up on. Which it very well might if you use Kingdra to tank Gengar so that your Raikou doesn't get Exploded on to make Zapdos a problem. Kingdra is also a pretty iffy Nido answer, as Nido doesn't need to predict with a 70% move to hit it the way it does Cune; it does 31-37% with EQ, the move it wants to spam to catch Lax anyway.

What's the plan for getting past Starmie? I guess you might be able to para a Starmie expecting Kingdra to have Toxic as its status, or you might blow up on it with Forr after you establish that you don't run HP Bug. Seems kinda complicated though. I normally like to pair Zard with Cloyster specifically to get Starmie out of the way early, sometimes even with Machamp too to really overload it.

 

Starmie has no unique plan as such, it usually ends up poisoned from Forretress then has to switch in on Rhydon and you can use the poison to wear it down, so it takes about 50% from e.q. on the switch plus the poison damage, so instantly it's in a position to recover, then you switch Raikou in straight away and providing it stays poisoned it can't recover the damage quick enough. There's also the option of roar shuffling it to let toxic do some work, or even leaving Rhydon in for another e.q. if you predict they're going to recover. Also if you figure it's the only thing checking Charizard you can blow it up with Forretress. But yes Starmie can pose a problem to this team but doesn't really threaten it. Marowak I can't really justify over Rhydon, I need the combination of defense and offense plus the phazing Rhydon offers.