OU Without Recover

[Agent Syrup]

This thread is to discuss how the OU tier would change if recover/softboiled were banned on all OU Pokemon. Pokemon like Kadabra or Porygon would still have the move.

Some questions regarding this:
So would any Pokemon be able to move up in the tier with the less stallish environment? Would any Pokemon fall out of use? How would this affect the Physical/Special dynamic? Without Softboiled would Mew still be banned? And most importantly: How fun would this be to play?

[Isa]

Lapras would be huge.

[jorgen]

Because Lapras would be so huge, I think people would still be willing to use Chasney. You'd probably see it Rest a bunch. I like to think that Rocks would get more play, too, since Electrics like Jolteon might be thrown out more commonly to give counterplay against Lapras. Gengar would probably see a lot of usage for that same reason. Hypno would oust Zam easily. You'd probably see less aquatics outside of Lapras, while Egg would probably take a hit since Lapras abounds while he and Hypno do a lot of the same things. Tauros and Lax would still be great, probably even better because now they don't have to worry about fast, resilient Thunder Wavers.

[Dre]

If wrap is legal, I could see something like raticate being a major threat. He's arguably borderline in normal wrap anyway, but without recover to spoil his hard work he'd be even better.

[cheese]

So basically this ban would affect Zam, Chansey and Starmie.
Starmie would take a big hit. Chansey would still be pretty good at forcing out special attackers, although Starmie's nerf puts a further dent in it. Reflect and Rest would work, but you'd have to watch out for Persian and Tauros Crits.
Kadabra's stock would certainly raise, but he wouldn't be an adequate replacement for what we have in Zam at the moment.

As others have said Lapras would be pretty slick, I think Slowbro would go up a notch too due to the Starmie/Chansey nerf.
As for Mew, I think it would make him more unpredictable as it effectively opens up a slot for him to abuse his awesome movepool, so he'd probably still be Uber. Rest is still there as an option as he's reasonably bulky anyway.
Obviously Mewtwo would still be insane. Even if you banned Amnesia from Mewtwo as well he'd still be Uber.

[Isa]

Icy recommended SDance/Explosion/Body Slam/EQ on Mew, and really, there's no way that's no Ubers. A +2 Mew OHKOs everything with Explosion except the things it 2HKOs with EQ...I guess Aerodactyl is the exception.

[magic9mushroom]

May 12, 2013 2:16:32 GMT -8 Isa said:

Icy recommended SDance/Explosion/Body Slam/EQ on Mew, and really, there's no way that's no Ubers. A +2 Mew OHKOs everything with Explosion except the things it 2HKOs with EQ...I guess Aerodactyl is the exception.

Rock Slide over Body Slam fixes that up just fine.

[Isa]

I don't see it as an issue. If your foe counters Mew with Aerodactyl...he still has Aerodactyl on his team.

[magic9mushroom]

May 12, 2013 7:23:04 GMT -8 Isa said:

I don't see it as an issue. If your foe counters Mew with Aerodactyl...he still has Aerodactyl on his team.

Indeed. I was just pointing it out. Honestly, the more relevant use of Rock Slide on Mew is to OHKO Articuno after a Swords Dance, since Mew doesn't like taking those superpowered STAB Blizzards for long.