All the RMTs in here are all from back in the Stadium days so I decided to post the Standard RBY Team to stunt creativity give newbies a heads-up. At a glance Teambuilding Process This team evolved over many years of RBY metagame development. I honestly don't know if it can even be attributable to any one person, at this point it's just kind of the RBY team. It's the standard team for a reason - shit's objectively good. If you see a different team, odds are it's actually the same team, just with one Pokemon changed or a moveset slightly altered or something. The mons Alakazam -Psychic -Seismic Toss -Recover -Thunder Wave Spoiler Honestly this thing is probably the most replaceable or customizable Pokemon slot on the standard team. Alakazam I picked for this slot mostly because it's safe and gives this team a bona fide lead and backup to Chansey in the event it gets frozen. Lead Alakazam matches up well enough against basically any common turn 1 Pokemon. It's a good anti-lead for Gengars, can render Jynx useless with a Thunder Wave, and can stall out or flatout parahax the shit out of the odd Exeggutor lead. Alakazam is fast and gets Recover, making it a good sleep absorber if something has to take sleep - if it's lucky enough to wake up early it's healing up before it can possibly be put back to sleep and is getting right back in the game. SToss is chosen over Reflect to give it good damage against Jynx and Exeggutor and to let it break opposing Reflect Alakazam in the stall matches in which it's likely to actually be waking up. Psychic lets it threaten Normal-types and basically all non-Psychic types. Even Chansey has to switch out at some point thanks to Special falls, which is why Alakazam makes a great user of Thunder Wave to spread paralysis if it isn't asleep. Finally Recover is Recover, it keeps you alive. Like I said, this slot is flexible, you could tack Starmie, Slowbro, Lapras, Jynx, Zapdos, Kingler, whatever into this slot. Alakazam is probably the most stable option for this Pokemon slot, though.[/HIDE] Exeggutor -Psychic -Sleep Powder -Explosion -Mega Drain Spoiler The team's sleeper and resident Golem/Rhydon wall. Egg is the most reliable sleeper in the game because it can actually take a hit. Psychic hits Normal-type attackers hard, forcing passive play against it. Sleep Powder is one of the main reasons to use Egg. Explosion lets it possibly kill a Chansey or Alakazam or stop a Slowbro if it needs to. The last slot can be one of many things, I picked Mega Drain here because the little bit of healing it gives you makes it much easier to stay healthy enough to take a hit then Explode. It's also nice for keeping Starmie from switching in willy-nilly to absorb sleep if the opponent plans on using Starmie that way, or for punishing over-confident Rocks looking to stay in to try to kill you or switch in to absorb an Explosion. Other options in the last slot include Stun Spore (which I usually like, but honestly isn't necessary for this team) and Double-Edge (which keeps Alakazams and other Eggs from stalling you). Exeggutor is one of four "immutables" and is basically untouchable.[/HIDE] Chansey -Ice Beam -Thunderbolt -Softboiled -Thunder Wave Spoiler Chansey, with its massive HP and great Special, is the main reason why Physical offense is the way to go. Special attacks just do not faze it, although it is prone to getting frozen. Ice Beam keeps Rocks out and also lets you go for freezes. Thunderbolt is mostly for Lapras; sometimes Counter is used over Thunderbolt, but that makes Lapras much more difficult to deal with (and Chansey needs to be able to deal with Lapras, since it's generally Lapras' #1 check). Thunderbolt also gives you some degree of recourse against Slowbro. Softboiled keeps Chansey alive, and Thunder Wave cripples frail, speedy attackers like Persian and Tauros while also letting your own Normals outpace opposing Alakazam. Chansey probably isn't spreading Thunder Wave all over the place the way Alakazam might be able to, but it's a vital tool to have at your hands, especially in the endgame where the opponent's Tauros is otherwise raring to go. Chansey is one of four "immutables" on the standard team, but in all honesty it's probably the most mutable of the immutables. You could easily live on the edge and go with something like Zapdos or Jolteon in this slot and still have a very competitive team that's less reliable but more offensive.[/HIDE] Golem -Earthquake -Rock Slide -Body Slam -Explosion Spoiler It famously walls the otherwise-threatening Zapdos, but Golem is mostly here for Snorlax, to be honest. It gives you a way to get Exeggutor or even your own Snorlax in on an opposing Snorlax's Earthquake (or even Surf!). It also punishes Lax who continue to try to Body Slam the double-switch. Its Earthquake is not a guaranteed 2HKO on Chansey, but it still has a chance to 2HKO so a paralyzed Chansey will still not want to deal with Golem. Rock Slide hits Exeggutor harder than anything else (bar Explosion) and also nails Cloyster and Lapras and especially the odd Articuno for heavy damage. Body Slam catches Exeggutor or Starmie switch-ins with paralysis so Golem can stay in to dish out the killing blow the next time these faster checks switch in. Finally Explosion manages to kill something if Golem only has one more turn to work with. Just try to blow up on Tauros or something and not on Exeggutor, since Exeggutor usually considers going down with Golem a "mission accomplished" scenario (Egg is the primary check for Golem, without Golem there's little need to keep Egg around anyway). This Pokemon slot, much like Alakazam's, is also pretty customizable, though the threat of Snorlax and Zapdos make a Rock here very useful.[/HIDE] Snorlax -Body Slam -Earthquake -Rest -SelfDestruct Spoiler Snorlax, the premier mid-game Physical wrecking ball. It mainly makes its living switching in on the ubiquitous Chansey and hitting whatever switches in HARD and possibly getting a Body Slam para on that switch-in to boot. Rest Lax is chosen here to avoid dying while trying to switch in on Chansey and to make Thunder Wave not last forever. No Hyper Beam can suck when trying to get kills against paralyzed Exeggutors or Chanseys, but Rest lets you play much more fast-and-loose with Snorlax, letting it exchange Body Slams with Egg Psychics, Lapras Blizzards, and even opposing Snorlaxes' attacks and still be able to heal up and come back fresh later. Ultimately, you want to be able to get Snorlax in as often as possible and not have trepidation about it, and Rest is the best option for enabling that. Body Slam is the main attacking move here, and is chosen over more powerful options like Double-Edge or even Mega Kick for its paralysis, and lack of drawbacks ("perfect" accuracy, no recoil). Earthquake chips away at Rock-types and destroys Gengar, both of which otherwise take Body Slams like champs. EQ also helps Snorlax scout Chansey for Counter, which otherwise insta-kills Snorlax. SelfDestruct is chosen to give Snorlax maximum bang for its buck when it can't afford to Rest and only has one turn left to make a difference. It can also be handy to trade with something that has an advantage or has managed to set up - even something with Reflect up doesn't take too kindly to Snorlax's STAB SelfDestruct. Snorlax is one of four "immutables", though like Chansey it can be swapped out for another Pokemon if you think you really really need that sleeper lead or want to give another, less reliable (but faster) offensive threat a try. Oftentimes, though, if you're just looking for a change of pace, you'll usually be better off just changing Snorlax's moveset rather than replacing it with another Pokemon. Snorlax is very versatile, it can run Amnesia, Reflect, Surf, and all kinds of fun sets.[/HIDE] Tauros -Body Slam -Hyper Beam -Earthquake -Blizzard Spoiler Tauros wins games on his own sometimes thanks to that lovely Crit rate. He works kind of like Snorlax, only he's more fragile and Thunder Wave weak, so you can't switch him in willy-nilly, but on the plus side, he has way more upside, which can save you in the endgame. He can also revenge kill stuff with his Speed if you're into that. Body Slam is the main attacking move, and is chosen over Double-Edge for the paralysis chance: coupled with Tauros' crit rate, there's almost a 50% chance that a Body Slam will either paralyze or crit the opponent. Hyper Beam has insane power and finishes off most things at roughly 50% health, and of course OHKOes pretty much the entire metagame with a Critical Hit if you need to lob a Hail Mary (and with a >20% crit rate, the odds aren't all that bad). Earthquake is mostly for Gengar and for scouting out Counter Chanseys, and Blizzard is mostly for Rock-types. Against other Ice-weak foes like Exeggutor and Zapdos, you're usually better off just Body Slamming or Hyper Beaming. This thing is impossible to fully deal with because of its crit rate - an opponent can seem to have an advantage, then Tauros CritParaSlams something to death and all of a sudden the game winds up coming down to the Tauros ditto anyway. An absolute must for any competitive RBY team because of its sheer potential, even if it isn't necessarily the most reliable performer.[/HIDE] Importable for the shameless thieves who am I kidding, there's really no room for original teams in RBY Take this importable, young one, and go to learn RBY with it. Make tweaks as you see fit, though for the most part, you will probably never stray far from this team unless you're gimmicking. Spoiler Alakazam (M) @ (No Item) - Psychic - Seismic Toss - Thunder Wave - Recover Golem (M) @ (No Item) - Earthquake - Rock Slide - Explosion - Body Slam Chansey (F) @ (No Item) - Ice Beam - Thunder Wave - Thunderbolt - Softboiled Snorlax (M) @ (No Item) - Body Slam - Earthquake - Rest - Selfdestruct Tauros (M) @ (No Item) - Body Slam - Hyper Beam - Blizzard - Earthquake Exeggutor (M) @ (No Item) - Psychic - Mega Drain - Sleep Powder - Explosion[/HIDE] Also sorry for the white backgrounds for the sprites I just didn't feel like finding/making transparent backgrounds (at least I bothered with the pictures to begin with you ungrateful little brats).
Doesn't Chansey get Blizzard? Only suggestion I can think of; most pokes have REALLY limited move selection. Good team!
This is indeed one of the most standard RBY teams, though to be honest, RBY is so heavily centralized that "standard" isn't really the best term to use, it's just the metagame defining team, with a fast "anti lead" that can defeat Gengar (the most common Anti-lead since it outspeeds Exeggutor and can Hypnosis it), and that can act as a backup special wall, a Rock type to absorbs explosions and normal type attacks in general, a sleeper, Chansey, Tauros, and a powerhouse like Snorlax I really like Alakazam lead, mainly because it can defeat Exeggutor easily, forcing it to Explode if it want to take Kazam out (but that would mean Alakazam's mission to be accomplished, also removing one of the potential Golem's switch ins). It's also a great Chansey switch in, sure, it gets para'd, but then it just walls it endlessly (I honestly find risking freeze wars with my own Chansey annoying), it also lures the Twave for your own Chansey and it can paralyze Tauros while destroying the Rock/Ground because of their poor Special stat. I personally prefer Rhydon over Golem, because I'm not a fan of 50-50 mindgames, and Rhydon has better overall stats so it's a fair exchange - I understand that, since RBY has 15 or so viable pokes the only way you have to win a game is to actually outplay your opponent (hax evens out, since both the players have the same chances - although increased). Another personal preference is Double-Edge over Mega Drain on Exeggutor. It may allow Golem to explode or Rhydon to take a hit but it actually helps getting past sleeping Chansey (it's a 3HKO I believe), it also damages Alakazam and other Exeggutor wearing them down (especially other Eggys since they don't have recovery). Blizzard on Chansey isn't a terrible option but seeing as you'll often end in PPstall / Freeze wars the superior PP, Accuracy and overall reliability of Ice Beam will win you games. I don't like Snorlax, especially with Rest but again, being RBY it's just a matter of personal preference, so yeah, if you find yourself not liking something on the team, you can easily replace with one of the other great pokes of this gen, and still have a great result, just be cautious. RBY is all about mindgames and predictions, rather than teambuilding / matchup.
I really like that Snorlax set. That's the truth. But it's really far from being standard. I know "the standard team" refers mainly to the mons and not to the moves but it could be a bit misleading however. Nobody uses that Snorlax actually. Ocassionaly me, and as far as I see, you like it too (which is nice!), but nobody else really does (35 times last month, but at least half of them are mine). GGFan and others used to use a rest+reflect set in the past, but nothing compared to the usage the BS/EQ/SD/HB set gets. I've seen you a few times say Golem exploding on Egg it's a bad trade, but heh, it really depends on the situation. Explding into Egg prevents it from exploding on one of your mons, and often egg explosion > golem explosion, because golem's almost always end up being a defensive explosion while imo egg's is more flexible generally. As for Golem vs Rhydon is a matter of preference really. But if you are considering the rock-type for its defensive duties first, then I like Golem. Rhydon requires more "attention" to fully exploit its advantages over golem; you have to make it make an impact offensively. Also, I don't think D-E is that much of an advantage in egg ditos. It's great for other things but not that much for eggs. Psychic does 49-58 damage and D-E does 78-92. D-E recoil is 19-23, so a D-E-ing egg will be taking 68-81 damage. This is around 19% vs around 21.5% each turn, and not counting Psychic's ability to score a spc fall.