What makes a Pokemon good by YOUR definition?

[Dre]

Dec 28, 2012 17:44:53 GMT -8 t3h Icy said:

I think we should clarify what we both mean by "metagame" since I think we're talking about two different things. If in your definition, the metagame is whatever is popular at the moment, then yeah, maybe you can body players with Special Snorlaxes and I'd agree with that. I use the term to refer what's the most viable overall, which is much more static (especially for a game as old as RBY). Special Snorlaxes kind of don't make the cut for that and standard Snorlax is much better in general.

But what other people are using does affect how viable a pokemon is. For example, rhydon is much better in a meta where everyone is using zapdos, than in a meta where everyone dropped their zapdos for lapras. Chansey wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is now if everyone ran only physical pokemon.

Tanklax is the kind of pokemon that you need to counter, especially if it's common. Aside from gengar, his counters are quite specific (requiring a specific moveset), and if you don't have one of his counters he can cause a lot of trouble.

He is a meta-defining pokemon because he isn't there to counter anything, he needs to be countered. He isn't like rhydon or chansey, in that they need specific pokemon on the opposing team for them to be worthwhile. He's good no matter what pokemon are on the opposing team, as long as his few true counters aren't on the team or have been removed.

That to me is the difference between a meta-dependent pokemon and an objectively good one. So I would say that regardless of which definition of meta we're using, tanklax is one of, if not the top pokemon in OU regardless.

[magic9mushroom]

Reliability, applicability, and power.

Reliability is how well it does what it's supposed to do. For instance, Rhydon is a very reliable check to Zapdos, because Zapdos's attacks are extremely ineffective against it and it has a super-effective STAB move to retaliate with.

Applicability is how important its role is - how often "what it's supposed to do" comes up. For instance, Exeggutor's role as a sleeper is very applicable, because sleeping something's always better than sleeping nothing.

Power is, basically, how good a Pokemon is at doing things it's not supposed to do - how well it deals with bad situations. Chansey is an example of something that's not very powerful, because it has no STAB and thus struggles to hurt things it doesn't wall.