Banned Strategies in Competitive Pokémon (Gens 1 - 5)

Back with another Pokemon video, this time looking at various strats that have been banned in competitive singles. I mainly cover generations 1 to 5, but there's a lil bit about Gen 8 in at the end too. The Pokémon vids are a nice change of pace, so I hope you enjoy!

0:00 - Intro
1:25 - Gen 1
5:30 - Gen 2
7:12 - Gen 3
16:14 - Gen 5
20:15 - Moody in Gen 8

#Pokemon #Competitive #Singles

[BigYellowSilly]

Also something I was originally gonna include in the vid but didn't was announce that I have a Patreon now! Link is in the description, I didn't really want to use Patreon tbh, I like the way Ko-Fi is set up more but it deals with things through Paypal which I almost never use so I went with Patreon.

Nothing substantial will EVER be locked behind it, it only exists as like a tip jar if you wanna help me out, but remember watching my vids and sharing them is already amazing support so whatever you do I really appreciate it (:

[eredostheuseless]

"That's like biting into a sandwich and saying wtf there's bread in here" God tier quote

[nathanielyingling]

You’re correct. In Gen V, Sol Badguy can not choke out Breloom.

[gregorygejoff]

Gen 4 had chattot banned actually. All because of it being able to record literally any sound you want for it to play.

[randommaster]

Banning Moody or Evasion boosts happened for the same reason a shot clock was added to many sports. (such as the NBA) Teams were literally sitting on the ball for 40+ minutes to win games.

Watching nothing happen for half an hour seems funny until you are on the losing side watching your time get wasted.

[OG_DouG]

It's pretty fun to see that there's still a meta in older gens.
The spore ban in Gen 5 OU is pretty recent, and there's still a lot of people playing Gen 1 OU.

[floofzykitty]

I think it's less about "we want you to play the game this way" when it comes to these rules and more about "this would be the only viable way to play if it was legal". For example, dig/fly in Gen 1 would completely shape the meta game to that strategy. People wouldn't be able to just stop using t-wave/paralysis because then the pokemon that are susceptible to paralysis would just become the best because nothing would be able to stop them

[shellnut]

Adding onto why sleep is not banned in Gen 1 whereas it is banned in Gen 5...

Because everything in Gen 1 is so bulky by virtue of the maxed-out defensive stats and the dominance of 2 blanket checks to virtually the entire metagame, Snorlax and Chansey, it's not unreasonable to try burning sleep turns on a Cloyster using Clamp, a Resting Snorlax, or against resisted attacks like Psychic, since if you get it then your up a full Pokemon and if you don't get it your not falling too far behind. So while sleep is very strong in Gen 1, there are ways to play around it.

By contrast, in gen 5, the metagame is so volatile that losing even 1 turn can be the game right then and there, making it way too dangerous to try burning sleep turns in gen 5, let alone with the stupid sleep mechanics. However, by not bringing out a sleeping Pokemon, you are playing 5v6 the rest game with no realistic chance of burning turns and waking up, which is just as bad as giving the opponent a free turn. There is no reasonable way to play around it without relying entirely on getting lucky with sleep talk rolls which can just as easily make sleep a non-factor as they can give the opponent a free turn to win the game.

I'm enjoying the variety content, it's very interesting and I look forward to seeing more of it in the future.

[TheWrathAbove]

This is actually a pretty interesting subject that you don't see covered all to often, especially not in this style. So it's nice to see here.

[NeoGraena]

Yknow what my favorite period is in Gen 5?
the Dugtrio ban saga.
basically the history of how Gen 5 OU was simply unable to handle Arena Trap to the point of banning Dugtrio, however people decided to just use Diglett (or even Trapinch lol)
and only then Arena Trap itself was banned.

[goldenhydreigon]

Glalie 🤝 Cacturne 🤝 Octillery

Being decent casual run Pokémon who are bad in Competitive yet got banned due to an Ability.

[DSaC_]

You really just threw "Mr. Mime is banned from Gen 3 OU" out of freakin' nowhere and I almost choked on my drink.
I didn't know this was the case at ALL.

[afineegg]

Rewatching this video again and seeing the non-yassified Big Yellow... Damn. They've come a long way.

[JustInCaseD]

Surprised that the biggest restriction of gen 5 wasn’t mentioned: the weather setter + speed boosting ability ban (Drizzle + Swift Swim, Sand Stream + Sand Rush, etc)

[TheBioshocksnake]

Moody should just give you a +2 stat up / -1 stat down as it switches in.
Not as abusable and opens up more strategies.

[wispyone]

I remember in Gen 7, Eevium Z was this really funny thing where you could just get 2x stats in everything and then Baton Pass and Psych Up and it was the whole strategy. It eventually got banned but I used it a lot with usually bad mons like Wishiwashi and Ribombee, partially because I was very frustrated with the Metagame for other reasons.

[StarkMaximum]

A lot of people complain "why does Smogon ban so much stuff, they're no fun, any time I come up with something cool it's already banned", and my first argument is "if it's banned you're definitely not the first person to come up with it", but more seriously, putting restrictions on a format results in having to figure things out as you go; that fabled "creativity" people idolize. If you just want everything unbanned, look at Anything Goes; it's a mess and you're either playing exactly what the best shit is, or you're playing something that counters it. Removing options when done right results in looking at Pokemon in new ways, which is why some people prefer to play only the lower tiers; what do you use when the five best options are banned? What's the next best thing?

[MAYOFORCE]

I was really hoping you'd mention Slowbro with slack off, recycle and the leppa berry but maybe if you do a gen 6-8 video it'll be up then

[serPomiz]

the thing with many, many, MANY moves combination are set up for WAY more complex games, that just doesn't mix well with the "kiddy" set up of the mainline game themselves, and are definetivelly anti-competitive;

heck, I swear I've seen moody in an older jrpg for a gambler class, but it made more sense there

[BloodThirstyAvengers]

Something that was banned in Gen 4, Chatot. More specifically, its signature move Chatter. Not only could you record curse words, you could also just screech into the mic as the moves power was higher the louder the recorded noise was.