RBY OU GGFan's 2013 ladder team

[GGFan]

The RBY OU ladder on Pokemon Online had reached its zenith in 2013; for it was a convergence of the best players that RBY had to offer, and only the best were able to stay on top for a significant period of time. Of the many who fought for supremacy, none dominated as much as I did. At one point, I was 100 games over .500 with just one team--this team, as a matter of fact (I think my record was something, like, 134-34 when I stopped counting). However, this team's success was not limited to the ladder: I also won a tournament on Pokefans with it and reached the semi finals of master tournament #2, a series in which I rallied back from an 0-2 deficit to force a pivotal 5th game that came down to a Chansey-Chansey freezewar.

Starmie
~Blizzard
~Psychic/Surf
~Thunder Wave
~Recover

This Starmie would go on to become known as FriendlyMie, due to how often it was seen thanks to me using it under the alias "Mr. Friendly." Arguably the best anti-lead in the game, only Jynx is a safe counter. However, should I expect to encounter Jynx, I'll ditch Psychic for Surf.

Snorlax
~Body Slam
~Hyper Beam
~Earthquake
~Selfdestruct

Classic sweeping set. I prefer this one overall to Amnesia variants because of its reliability. The only set I like to use besides this one is GSCLax, if only because of how fun it is to avoid bad luck for 50+ turns and kill four full-health Pokemon with one.

Tauros
~Blizzard
~Body Slam
~Hyper Beam
~Earthquake

The God of RBY complements Snorlax very well: whereas one is bulky and can come in at practically any time, Tauros is great at finishing what Snorlax starts.

Exeggutor
~Psychic
~Sleep Powder
~Explosion
~Hyper Beam

Though often not seen in the same vein as the "big three" (Tauros/Snorlax/Chansey), Exeggutor is, in my opinion, just as valuable thanks to his incredibly important role as a bulky sleeper with offensive prowess. What separates my Exeggutor from the others, however, is Hyper Beam as the 4th move. I have picked off many, many paralyzed Jynx and wounded Chanseys with it, ostensibly because of its raw power, but moreso because nobody would see it coming unless they've played me before. And if I felt that they might try and predict it, I could simply act accordingly by using Psychic instead. I love Hyper Beam so much that I'll never go back to Mega Drain and Stun Spore.

Proof that Hyper Beam is not only legit, but arguably Exeggutor's best 4th move: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyraTeutLp0&t=2m13s

Chansey
~Ice Beam
~Thunder Wave
~Softboiled
~Light Screen

At its worst, RBY is a crapshoot where the person who gets the most fps wins. At its best, though, it's tantamount to virtual chess, and Chansey is one of the main reasons why. When contemplating giving Chansey additional bulk, most--if not everybody--choose Reflect. While many people may view Light Screen as a mere gimmick, it is ineffably useful in late-game tank warfare against Alakazam and Slowbro. The former needs two special falls just to deal around the same damage it could before Light Screen is put up, whereas the latter can only 4HKO Chansey even with 999 Special. I have never lost this Chansey to an Alakazam, and I've frozen many a Slowbro and forced others to switch out. While I don't consider Light Screen Chansey's best 4th move by any means, it was often very helpful on the ladder.

Alakazam
~Psychic
~Thunder Wave
~Reflect
~Recover

A common role for Alakazam is as the fast sleep bait that might wake up later, but might not. For me, Alakazam was a psuedo late-game sweeper and tank that put pressure on Tauros, Exeggutor, and Chansey. Alakazam almost always lived to see the end of a battle, where he would often determine how smooth my victory would be, or whether or not I'd be able to escape the jaws of defeat.

After the ladder

I forget when I stopped playing on the ladder, but I retired this team when I did so by swapping out Alakazam for Slowbro and giving Chansey Thunderbolt instead of Light Screen. With this different team, I've won two tournaments this year and beat Crystal, Isa, marcoasd, and Lutra in best-of-five sets. Nonetheless, I still view my ladder team as one of the most successful RBY teams of the 2010s.

Achievements
~Won 4-Chords Cup tournament on Pokefans (RBY OU)
~Reached the semi-finals of master tournament #2 on Pokemon Perfect
~Won well over 150 games on the Pokemon Online RBY OU ladder
~Was 100+ games over .500
~Reached #1 of the aforementioned ladder on numerous occasions
~Reached #2 with four different accounts
~Peaked with a score of 1450+ when the ladder was at its best
~Held the #1 and #2 spots of the ladder at the same time
~Held the #1 and #3 spots of the ladder at the same time

Importable

Spoiler

Starmie
- Blizzard
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Snorlax
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Earthquake
- Self-Destruct

Tauros
- Blizzard
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Earthquake

Exeggutor
- Psychic
- Sleep Powder
- Explosion
- Hyper Beam

Chansey
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Soft-Boiled
- Light Screen

Alakazam
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect
- Recover

 

[marcoasd]

Team that falls under the "3 recover users" category, it's fine to use a normal move on Egg, and HB will have that occasion a game to hit cowardly. Suppose Light Screen is mainly for Slowbro, as almost all of the team can switch into Zam.
I still was a newbie when we met, you didn't even need to push yourself to win. We'll play again at some point.

 

[GGFan]

No, Light Screen is just as useful against Alakazam in the late-game as it is against Slowbro, if not moreso.

Sono sempre pronto per combattere.

 

[M Dragon]

Ah yes, we have had some p good games in ladder, fun times (I was using mainly my Jynx + Counters team and my Tobybro team I think).
About the team:
I was never a fun of that Starm set, because Jynx leads were rising in popularity and it was a very annoying matchup for that Starm set, since it can't touch Jynx without Surf, but I guess you could always use Surf > anything but Recover, although Psychic is p cool vs Gengar leads and just to get some special drops in general, and Blizzard is p cool vs Egg leads. You could always try to para Jynx turn 1, although you risk a possible switch to Chansey in turn 1 to absorb de para.

HB Egg is a very good idea that catches a lot of Jynx and some Alakazams, and Light Screen is a FU to Tobybro and psychics in general (but freeze/boom/etc)

The team is very solid (double psychic recover core + egg + triple normal), but when seeing you battling or trying the team, I have noticed that you might have some trouble vs body slam (snorlax using body slam can be very dangerous, especially if it gets some paras, and it comes in predicted switches to Chans), although with Egg + Lax + Reflect Kazam you should be fine. Counter something (Chans/Lax) could be a good surprise, but idk, chans would miss either t-wave or LS. I guess it's "pick your poison".

Lastly, although Starm is a very important member of this team, in most variations I have seen/used of this team, Starmie is the mon that changes. A lot of things could work there, like Gengar, Golem/Rhydon, Lapras, Slowbro, Lapras, Jynx... but probably the Starm set + HB Egg + LS Chans is what makes this team special.

 

[GGFan]

Yeah, Jynx gives FriendlyMie problems, but I was ok with that because it's great against every over common lead (Psychic for Gengar, Blizzard for Exeggutor, can scare away Alakazam, and simply switches out against other Starmies). If I anticipated Jynx, I would swap Psychic for Surf. Blizzard is, in my humble opinion, the more valuable attack.

I forgot about Alakazam when talking about HB Exeggutor--those paralyzed, 55% Alakazams never saw it coming. Moreover, in that tournament on Isa's forum back in October/November, I had to play some random in the first round. The third game came down to an Exeggutor/Alakazam stallwar that I won thanks to a crit Hyper Beam--on an Alakazam that was at 100% health and had Reflect up. You can't do that with Double Edge or Mega Drain.

Snorlax was kind of a pain in the ass, but how much trouble he gave my team was dependent on paraslams. Exeggutor was a common switch-in because I would subsequently scare it away or put it to sleep on the next turn. Reflectzam also did relatively well against Snorlax. I think I used Counter over Thunder Wave or Light Screen on Chansey on some occasions.

We had some interesting games last year: your Zapdos/Jolteon team, the game where I haxed you with Tauros to come back from 6-1 to 1-1, and the game where I got really lucky and nearly swept with Lickitung immediately come to mind. I remember you had Jynx, but I never noticed Counter, and I don't remember if you played me with Slowbro on your team. Good times.

 

[magic9mushroom]

This Starmie would go on to become known as FriendlyMie, due to how often it was seen thanks to me using it under the alias "Mr. Friendly."

I have not ever seen Blizzard/Psychic/Twave Starmie referred to as such except a) by you, or one of your alts, b) in direct response to you calling it that first.

I mean, I know it tastes good, but you have to take it out of your mouth if you want to speak intelligibly.

 

[GGFan]

What are you saying tastes good, Dre? My combined 10-0 record against you and your magic9mushroom alt (beating you almost every time with this team)? I guess it does, though I never really thought about it as you're just a bitter troll who's mad at me because you never accomplished anything despite claiming to be great. Don't worry, though--nobody who matters actually takes you seriously.

I guess it's time for you to go back to Isa's forum and try to convince the five other people there that you matter, go kiss SmogonJr's ass, or whatever it is you do these days.

By the way, FriendlyMie wishes you well.

Love,
GGFan