Gen 1 [Ubers] Fresh out of The Factory

Lutra

Spreadsheeter by day, Random Ladderer by night.
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RBY Ubers Stall: Fresh out of the Factory

Introduction

I said to I think IronBullet a long time ago, that I'd post an RBY OU RMT last summer. Well since then, teal6 posted a good RMT with the same 6 pokes that I had in mind, so I'll take that off my to-do list, thanks. I will however share a team in the tier for which I'm perhaps most known for innovating in: RBY Ubers.

The theme of the nicknames are from a scene in Funimation Dub of DBZ, which I really liked about 5 years ago. Dragon Ball is still probably my favorite anime franchise.

History

PO Stadium Ubers Era

Just like my original Do you like RBY Eggs?" RBY OU team, my Ubers team also originated when Pokémon Online had Stadium mechanics implemented. I topped the very small Stadium Ubers ladder and was having fun dominating the opposition while testing out Amnesia Snorlax.

I had heard from I think waterwizard that Slowbro and Exeggutor during the Netbattle Supremacy Era make a good Ubers core, and Mew, Mewtwo are obvious choices, so it was just a case of picking the other two. I wouldn't like to be without Chansey, the catch-all special wall, and Amnesia Snorlax seemed appealing in a tier dominated by Amnesia Mewtwo.



RBY Ubers Reborn!

I can't remember exactly when or why, but at some point I decided to revive RBY Ubers with a series of tournaments, first on my forums, where I ended up 9-0, and then with RBY Ubers World Championship on Smogon. I had quite an impressive undefeated streak, 18 forum tournament battle wins, with a couple of Transform Mew Endless Battle ties thrown in, so I was quite upset when players finally started figuring out how to break down this team. Now though, I view the experience positively, as it helped me understand you need different teams to combat different opponents with different knowledge accumulated and that the tier wasn't as centralized as I imagined it.

The two main changes from the Stadium team I eventually decided on are: 1. Jynx lead for this RBY Ubers team, after having Snorlax lead in the original Stadium team (which probably wasn't the best use of a Snorlax, even if Stadium sleep is short) and 2. My transform Mew set became a permanent fixture in the team once I discovered it.



Team Strategy (Newbie Crushing)

Step 1 (Lead Phase)

Sleep the opponent / Hit Gengar with Psychic / Let Jynx take the sleep. (You want to freeze Mewtwo ideally, so be careful with Blizzard).

Step 1.2 (Backup Sleep with Eggy)

If your Jynx was slept and a Golem/Rhydon/Exeggutor appears or Chansey is about to Softboiled, get your Exeggutor in to hopefully pull off the sleep.

Step A (Freeze Clause abuse)

Stall the opponent's Jynx/Mewtwo with your Chansey, while letting it get hit with Ice attacks. Chansey frozen is good for your Mewtwo, since then it won't get frozen. You want to be careful about your Chansey getting paralyzed and making sure it Thunder Waves the right things: Jynx/Chansey. Also, you want to avoid paralyzing Mewtwo up until the point it starts becoming a danger, which can happen fairly quickly, so don't be too against pushing the Twave button. Mewtwo doesn't usually carry Thunder Wave though, so Light Screen Chansey is more comfortable against Mewtwo than a Light Screenless set would be versus Alakazam, assuming no prior paralysis and full health. Just get Light Screen up straight away though and Softboiled when necessary (60%ish percentage unless you got PP to conserve).

Step B (Attempting a "Lutrew" Counter Sweep)

A Mew enters the battle. Just switch to your Mew. If their set happens to be Earthquake / Hyper Beam / Softboiled / Swords Dance, you have the perfect answer.

About 2-3 years ago, I was searching for a set to best wall physical Mew. I went through a fair amount of Pokémon on the Showdown damage calculator, before I realized Thunder Wave and Reflect on Mew is an amazing way to stop Mew if it doesn't get the paralysis on you with Body Slam. If it has Explosion and goes to 999, it's an even trade, you've neutralized the Mew threat and can work on Step A if that's still available.

So the set I discovered is pretty perfect at walling Mew if you can stay unparalyzed and if the opposing Mew lacks a way to Freeze. I haven't told you the best part yet though - imagine Mew has 1 Swords Dance boost as you switch in, you Thunder Wave it, it SDs again in response, you use Reflect, you can now Transform to copy its stats and keep Reflect up. To add insult to injury, you can also SD versus the Mew foe so that you are always faster. This is the point you turn their attempted sweep right back at the uninitiated.

Step C (Surprise with your Mewtwo)

The final main way to turn your opponent's lack of knowledge against them is to keep aggressive with Mewtwo. For instance, suppose you freeze their Mewtwo or they get into a tricky situation. You just want to spam Psychic to hopefully catch their incoming Slowbro/Chansey by surprise, rather than taking the time to Recover. If they have to paralyze your Mewtwo to stay in the game, that's an advantage for you in a freeze war.

Team Analysis


No Warranty (Jynx)
[Blizzard | Lovely Kiss | Psychic | Rest]

Jynx is a good lead to try to get sleep out of the way quickly and not carry so much risk like in the case of Gengar missing Hypnosis. You want to sleep most things with Lovely Kiss, and Psychic/Rest on Chansey, and use Blizzard carefully to deal that extra damage and preferably not get an undesirable freeze.


Tub of Lard (Chansey)
[Light Screen | Seismic Toss | Soft-Boiled | Thunder Wave]

Light Screen is your tool against Mewtwo. Even so, you still have to be on your guard with Chansey and switch straight to it as Mewtwo boosts its special with Amnesia. From then out, you want to measure your HP carefully while Softboil[ing] and probably Thunder Wave if it gets a Special down, although your own Mewtwo can switch in at full health and survive assuming it doesn't lose both speed ties and get critical hit with Blizzard. Seismic Toss is often used to PP stall Mewtwo and take down Restless Jynx (very occasionally Rest Jynx and Mewtwo too).


Bonehead (Mewtwo)
[Amnesia | Ice Beam | Psychic | Recover]

Standard Mewtwo set. Boost and be aggressive when the time comes. I opt for Ice Beam & Psychic because some players just switch in Slowbro carelessly and let it get KOed either with a 2HKO or special downs when it rests quickly, so I feel Thunderbolt isn't so important. Always Amnesia first when you come on other Mewtwo and boosting just once is very beneficial, so don't go overkill on the Amnesia, +3 is enough for 999. Extra Amnesia uses are only good for slowing the opponent down when paralyzed (repeated quartering until 1 speed).


Never Say Die! (Mew)
[Reflect | Soft-Boiled | Thunder Wave | Transform]

With this Mew set, you just want to switch it in when their Mew comes out if at full health most of the time. First move is usually Thunder Wave to succeed in paralyzing their Mew, which is a job well done if you succeed. Next, you want to Reflect to take less damage from their attacks. Next you want to either Softboiled or Transform if they still have Mew in. If all goes well, you copy their boosts, SD again if necessary and turn the sweep they tried to initiate back at them. What's more, Transforming can be used in some situations to PP Stall a bit more, but you have to make sure you can switch into whatever and it won't put you at a disadvantage when the 5 PP runs out on your moveset. Sometimes it can also allow you to transform into a sleeper and sleep a Pokémon if you haven't already.



Here it Comes! (Slowbro)
[Amnesia | Rest | Surf | Thunder Wave]

Standard Tobybro. Its function in Ubers is quite a bit different potentially, as it usually reasonable safe vs Chansey due to Chansey rarely carrying Thunderbolt. It can also boost vs Mewtwo lacking Thunderbolt and stall it out of some attacking PP, though Mewtwo will probably outstall it, especially as you will probably have to Thunder Wave Mewtwo to stay safe versus it. So just Thunder Wave Chansey straight away and boost with Amnesia, hit with Surf after +4/+6. Exeggutor often switches into this, so bear that in mind too.



The Sleeper (Exeggutor)
[Explosion | Psychic | Sleep Powder | Stun Spore]

Your standard eggy that acts as an Earthquake resist and a secondary sleeper. Stun Spore to spread even more paralysis, which helps with the team's weaknesses. Use Explosion wisely, it won't come close to KOing Mew or Mewtwo at near full health, so it's not easy to exe(gg)cute a successful trade.

Strengths & Weaknesses

The strength of this team, especially against the less experienced players, is the element of surprise. You still won't believe how many people slip up versus Transform Mew, even if the set is deprecated by some (since switching out is counterplay). Like I alluded to before though, it's important to view players as each being different and having different sets of knowledge, and you can generalize this to players with higher knowledge being in a different metagame to those of lower knowledge, what I call different metatopes, sort of like being in the same time line, but the metagames evolving at different rates in different competitive locations, until perhaps the lesser developed metatope finds out about the higher developed metatope and they integrate into a broader metagame. You can choose to specialize in invasion rather than warring with your own kind, which I feel this team does better.

Moving on from Poké-colonialism, you've got Mew to handle Mew (most of the time), Slowbro for back up, which also handles non-Thunderbolt Mewtwo, and Chansey and your own Mewtwo to stall foe Mewtwo, so I feel the Uber-tiered Pokémon are handled well. Chansey acts as the special wall, and Slowbro/Exeggutor/Mew add some support against physical attacks. You've got some room to PP stall if you can't get your ideal win scenario.

For weaknesses, Gengar sleeps Jynx, can come on Slowbro (sleeping/unboosted) and Mew, and boom threaten Exeggutor and Chansey. No Rock-type and Slowbro also gets you into difficulty with Zapdos. Tauros leads put pressure on Jynx, and along with Snorlax, Tauros puts pressure on Chansey if it risks the Thunder Wave. Slowbro is only so good against Snorlax/Tauros if paralysis wars are in its favor.

No Warranty (Jynx)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Blizzard
- Lovely Kiss
- Psychic
- Rest

Tub of Lard (Chansey)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Light Screen
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

Bonehead (Mewtwo)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Amnesia
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Recover

Never Say Die! (Mew)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Reflect
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
- Transform

Here it Comes! (Slowbro)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk
- Amnesia
- Rest
- Surf
- Thunder Wave

The Sleeper (Exeggutor)
- Explosion
- Psychic
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
Conclusion

I hope you try out this team, especially if you are unfamiliar with RBY Ubers! The tier is begging for more exploration and if you'd like to see importables for more RBY Ubers teams, check this pastebin (my Jynx just has Seismic Toss for Psychic there, so that may be option you want to try out).

Thanks to Peasounay for commenting on the team privately by summarizing weaknesses/possible improvements.

Dogmatic Peas commands you to replace Surf with Ice Beam on Slowbro and Seismic Toss with Ice Beam on Chansey. I see them being good in situations, but I'm not ready to make the jump testing yet and would rather get this out first. I can edit in if a lot of people prefer those options.

 
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