Gen 1 Big 4 MieDon feat. AmneLax

[Plague von Karma]

Been a while since I did an RMT and I still have a lot to learn about RBY, so I'm bringing up a team that I really like using. Besides, the RMT forum lacks a bit of Gen 1 anyway, haha. It's inspired by something Unowndragon passed to me when I was wanting to blast ForgottenOnes with AmneLax, which I then modified to fit my playstyle a bit. Watching their replays, they really liked ReflectLax and rarely used anything else, and it even showed in RBYPL. Unfortunately, it went wrong, in part due to me playing at a pretty ridiculous hour, but I think this team and myself could be improved in places. I doubt I'll be using this team again in the tour at least, so let's get to it.

The Process
I believe my teambuilding is a bit flawed, so I'm sharing the process in case someone wants to point out flawed logic.
So I really wanted to use AmneLax. The level of carnage this beast can bring upon a team is incredible, be it as an early game breaker or late-game sweeper once the opposing team is paralyzed. ReflectLax also appears to be on the rise, and AmneLax tends to beat it more often than not due to +2/4 Blizzard's damage just being too much for it. It's also funny blasting an Exeggutor trying to switch in, I guess.
Since AmneLax beats ReflectLax handily, I thought implementing a MieDon core would help round off the offense. Rhydon runs train over teams late-game and with something like ReflectLax out the picture, it can be relatively consistent. From here on out, I decided my lead would be Starmie as well, and chose Blizzard+Psychic as coverage for consistency.
When running LeadMie, I like to pair it with Chansey to stop it from being paralyzed, you know, the typical "switch Chansey in t1" thing. Given the lead I'm choosing, Sing Chansey felt like a natural choice for the sleep game.
Paralyzed Sing Chansey can be quite inconsistent, so a backup sleeper in Exeggutor is helpful. Adding on Double-Edge can also help with Chansey...the critical hits with it have been my crack for the past few days.
Don't think this thing needs any explanation to any RBYer who's played more than like, 2 games and watched it flatten their Ditto team...

The Team

Fang (Starmie)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
- Blizzard
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Recover
The lead, sack for sleep against Jynx and switch to Chansey against paralysis leads. Blizzard + Psychic provides the most "neutral" coverage and the prior backhands Exeggutor for rearing its ugly head out of the lead slot. Late-game, Mie is an amazing way to close things out if unparalyzed, especially since Tauros can't afford to even take paralysis if it wants to sweep at the end. Should AmneLax not be enough, Starmie's powerful special offense can also be used to muscle past Reflect Snorlax.

Isabella (Chansey)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
- Seismic Toss
- Sing
- Thunder Wave
- Soft-Boiled
Chansey is such a ludicrously fat Pokemon that even when paralyzed you can probably get the Sing off. I ended up going with Seismic Toss for consistent damage, as a lot of this team has Ice-type attacks already, and it's good for forcing Alakazam and Starmie to use their recovery moves to score switch-ins. Then cowabunga it is, AmneLax is going to do its thing...I hope! Seismic Toss also has more PP than Ice Beam, and since this Chansey will likely be paralyzed, it should win the PP stall war unless something horrible has happened.

Adrian (Exeggutor)
- Psychic
- Sleep Powder
- Double-Edge
- Explosion
Pretty standard Exeggutor, I guess. Double-Edge helps a lot against Jynx, and can potentially muscle past paralyzed BoltBeam Chansey if I need to and don't want to blow up yet. The option value of Explosion is quite key here, as forcing through any Chansey is crucial for allowing Snorlax to get its ridiculous offense off. I would run Stun Spore for more paralysis, but Chansey and Starmie seem to be enough.

Ferdinand (Snorlax)
- Body Slam
- Amnesia
- Rest
- Blizzard
AmneLax is the funniest thing. Going into a Lax mirror and seeing that Reflect go up while I get the near-guaranteed 3HKO from Blizzard is glorious. I can position Snorlax into a good spot if I paralyze a Chansey Turn 1, pressuring with Body Slam. During this point, I have not yet revealed the Snorlax set completely, which is a nice touch. I really like the "Snorlax Trinity" dynamic: PhysLax beats Amnelax, AmneLax beats ReflectLax, ReflectLax beats PhysLax. They play very differently and add a good bit of depth to the game. Unlike Unowndragon's team, I went with Rest over Self-Destruct for staying power, which fits my playstyle more.

Biggles (Rhydon)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Body Slam
- Leer
Unowndragon has given me a snort of LeerDon cocaine and I'm now addicted. Please send help. Rhydon's other 3 moves are fairly straightforward: Rhydon's Earthquake is the strongest unboosted physical attack in the game and 2HKOes non-Reflect Chansey, Rock Slide hits the birds and Exeggutor, Body Slam scouts and spreads paralysis. Leer can be nice for making non-Ice Beam ReflectLax uncomfortable, or catching BoltBeam Chansey switch-ins and making them really want to leave. -1 Def calcs with Earthquake are...something, to say the least. I lose out on the Substitute thing against SToss Chansey, but eh, it's no big loss.

Ximénez (Tauros)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
RMT requires me to give 3 lines about every Pokemon on the team, even something as unquestionable as Tauros. Tauros is the best revenge-killer in the game, and is on almost every RBY team ever made, and will continue to be until the end of time. However, there is a small detail about mine that may raise eyebrows: Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt Tauros has historically been used to lure Water-types - particularly Cloyster - and this one is no exception: this team lacks coverage for them, and Tauros fulfils it. Anyway, the rest of this should be straightforward. Every time I Thunderbolt a Cloyster, the punchline is complete: nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!

Weaknesses and areas for improvement

• This team seems to lack a bit of Thunderbolt, but I'm not sure where to fit it in. Maybe BlizzBolt Mie, BBChansey or...something. BlizzBolt Snorlax sounds hilarious.
• Maybe a bit more para-spreading? Double Powder Egg?

There's probably more but this is what came to mind.

Importable

Fang (Starmie)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
- Blizzard
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Isabella (Chansey)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
- Seismic Toss
- Sing
- Thunder Wave
- Soft-Boiled

Adrian (Exeggutor)
- Psychic
- Sleep Powder
- Double-Edge
- Explosion

Ferdinand (Snorlax)
- Body Slam
- Amnesia
- Rest
- Blizzard

Biggles (Rhydon)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Body Slam
- Leer

Ximénez (Tauros)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt

Link for the Pokepaste zoomers

 

[Prof_J]

Cool team.

Leer is an interesting tech on Rhydon, I don't see it having enough value over Substitute though. A big play you lose out on is paralyzing a potential Starmie switch-in. If you manage to get a free sub up against it that's huge momentum. Another one is a free sub against an electric, especially if you feel a normal is going to come in to avoid a para. In many other instances, having sub can just win you games.
Also, on MieDon builds these days, Tauros with Tbolt isn't very uncommon since that's a great tool to potentially snipe Cloyster. If a seasoned player sees all 6 of you Pokemon but not the bull's full set, they can make an educated guess. At the very least, they probably would readjust their play to not risk Cloyster, especially if you still have lax.
Lack of Thunderbolt overall is bad though because of Slowbro. You could put that in on Starmie, but you also have to plan for your lead to be asleep the whole game, so I think boltbeam Chansey would work better. You lose an easier way to get sleep, but Eggy does a good job of doing that for this build.
You should also have a Reflect normal as a safer switch-in to lax. Reflect Chansey + Amnesialax is a solid combo because Chansey becomes your primary answer to lax and helps you pave the way for yours to set up. Stoss won't crit bro, but it's consistent damage at least. Or have your reflect normal be lax with a coverage move. Or run both that way if you want.

There's a few different viable ways MieDon can be run, what I liked to do starting out was put the names of known players into a replay scouter, find teams I like, reverse engineer them, and try to understand how to form a gameplan with the team.

Last bit of advice is that Stun Spore is a consideration on eggy since Rhydon likes all the para it can get, but edge is equally valid.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Prof_J
I think I'll go with SubDon and the BoltBeam Chansey idea. Not sure how to fit Reflect onto the team, though...if I go with Reflect Chansey, I'm pretty sure I'll end up having to use BlizzBolt Mie, I don't really want to drop TWave on Chansey.

 

[Prof_J]

Well if a team lacks Gengar and/or Cloyster and no Counter is being run, having no reflect normal isn't typically a great idea defensively. Yeah Rhydon can come in on a Body Slam, but if it gets para'd it loses a lot of potential to be useful. I think Chansey should have para no matter what when you run a slow 6th...and if it runs boltbeam and you keep this build, Reflectlax would be a good idea (since it also helps against Rhydon with EQ/ice, if eggy is gone AND starmie sleeps, you have a way to fight opposing Rhydon without risking your own).

This is very likely not a great way to word advice, but a good way to think about set choices is "what will give this team (or maybe this specific mon) the best possible chance of success?"

 

[Unowndragon]

About this leer rhydon,at the first time,i want to use it to against reflect toss chansey,about sub and leer,there are many statements,you use sub that you can seize the opportunity to fight many para pokemon,but it also lost 25%hp，rhydon's hp is also important,leer isn't direct use,but it can use on para reflect chansey,sometimes you need to use this set to direct attack chansey,and other time,it's use earthquake,rock slide and body slam.

Rhydon's the fourth moveset i think it's have some changeable,if you para egg,you can also use hyper beam rhydon
Rhydon Hyper Beam vs. Exeggutor: 143-169 (36.3 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
This is my openion

 

[Prof_J]

About this leer rhydon,at the first time,i want to use it to against reflect toss chansey,about sub and leer,there are many statements,you use sub that you can seize the opportunity to fight many para pokemon,but it also lost 25%hp，rhydon's hp is also important,leer isn't direct use,but it can use on para reflect chansey,sometimes you need to use this set to direct attack chansey,and other time,it's use earthquake,rock slide and body slam.

Rhydon's the fourth moveset i think it's have some changeable,if you para egg,you can also use hyper beam rhydon
Rhydon Hyper Beam vs. Exeggutor: 143-169 (36.3 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
This is my openion

Having sub does take away 25% hp, but if you get one up for free, pressure Chansey and eventually kill it, that sub is now a shield to tank one free attack for whatever comes in next. That next thing could be in kill range of a STAB move, or you get a free turn to fish for para, when otherwise you would have to switch to something else or maybe make a prediction.
The way I see it, Rhydon hits hard enough. It's also so slow and has so many weaknesses, that it appreciates that defensive option. I do not disagree that there are a few options to try out in Rhydon's 4th move slot, each with their own merits. That said, if I want to have the best possible chance for Rhydon to succeed and be a persistent threat, I would go with Substitute.