1v1 - Old Generations, New Developments

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Art by Kolohe.

Introduction

1v1 is an independent Other Metagame where each player has a team of up to three Pokémon and sends one into battle. The battle ends when one Pokémon faints. 1v1 can be played in any main series Pokémon game, but it is most commonly played with the ruleset of the current generation, Sword and Shield. Old generations, despite their smaller individual playerbases, are nonetheless a significant part of the larger 1v1 community. They are included in many tournaments throughout the year, such as 1v1 Classic, 1v1 Premier League (PL), 1v1 World Cup (WC), and various unofficial tournaments. Classic is an individual tournament that is exclusive to old generations, with single elimination cups for each format from SM all the way down to ADV that award points for a single elimination playoffs stage. PL and WC are both team tournaments featuring games from SS to BW, with DPP games in the multigen slot as well. Since PL V at the beginning of 2021, nearly every 1v1 old generation has made additions to their banlist because of recent innovation in these tournaments. Let's explore why!

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SM

The SM 1v1 metagame didn't see any relevant development immediately after the generational shift, since people were generally more interested in SS at first, but many players returned to SM, and in the absence of a permanent ladder, they began to adapt. Tournament-centric strategies like lures and uncommon items were used more often to give players an information advantage over their opponent. For example, Flyinium Z Gyarados saw more usage in place of Mega Gyarados, and more versatile Pokémon like Dragonite, and more recently Mew, rose in prominence. Other Pokémon like Porygon-Z, Primarina, and Mega Gyarados are still potent threats, but they didn't have a large impact on the current trends. Despite their relatively low impact on games, some sleep-inducing moves were recently added to the banlist because of their uncompetitiveness. With all of that being said, let's dive into how SM has been recently.

Charizard dominated the SM metagame when it was the main generation and has not fallen off since the generational shift. Charizard's Mega Evolution is not revealed during Team Preview, forcing opponents to guess which one it is based on team composition. Additionally, both Mega Evolutions have many different sets that beat a large portion of the metagame collectively. Mega Charizard X can be either Dragon Dance to defeat defensive options like Porygon2 and Type: Null as well as opposing Charizard or Flame Charge to chip opposing Pokémon before outspeeding them turn 2. Mega Charizard X has a few options for customization. The most common is Substitute for Aegislash, Thunder Wave Togekiss, and Torrent Greninja, but Charizard may replace Dragon Dance with Swords Dance for Mega Venusaur and Zygarde-C, Thunder Punch for Tapu Fini and Flyinium Z Gyarados, or Belly Drum to muscle through bulky Pokémon such as Mega Slowbro. Mega Charizard X also can customize its EV spread, using high Special Defense investment to defeat Greninja and Naganadel as needed. Mega Charizard Y can be fully offensive to OHKO slower Pokémon with Blast Burn while also defeating Pokémon that threaten Mega Charizard X such as Tapu Lele and Landorus-T. Additionally, Mega Charizard Y can run a more defensively-oriented set to defeat non-Stone Edge Mega Gyarados with Solar Beam. Charizard's Fire typing makes it one of the best counters to most of the popular Steel-, Fairy-, and Grass-type Pokémon such as Mega Metagross, Mega Mawile, Magearna, Tapu Lele, and Serperior. For all these reasons, Charizard finds itself in a favorable position in the metagame and cements itself as a top-tier threat.

Steel-type Pokémon are in high demand in SM 1v1. Of the viable Steel-types, Heatran, Mega Metagross, Mega Mawile, and Magearna are the most common. First, Heatran defeats most variants of both Mega Charizard formes, as well as most other Steel-type Pokémon like Mawile and Magearna due to Flash Fire and its Fire typing. Mega Metagross is popular because of its bulk, defensive Steel / Psychic typing, and customizability, which allow it to beat many metagame threats such as Gyarados, Greninja, Meloetta, Tapu Lele, and most Dragonite. On the other hand, Mega Mawile also defeats Normal- and Fairy-type Pokémon but can also handle Dark-type Pokémon such as Mega Sableye and Hoopa-U and is a better Serperior check thanks to Taunt. When compared to other Steel-types, Magearna has a uniquely good matchup against Ground-type Pokémon such as Golem and Donphan. With Iron Defense and Pain Split, Magearna can take two hits, break Sturdy, and KO them with Twinkle Tackle. It also has a better matchup against Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, Mega Venusaur, and Tapu Fini, which can defeat some or all of the other top Steel-types.

Dragonite is one of the most terrifying Pokémon in SM 1v1. Its power lies in its capability to run many sets with little opportunity loss, making Team Preview a nightmare. Its most noteworthy sets are Choice Band, Flyinium Z, Dragonium Z, and Choice Scarf. Its main Z-Move sets can be physical or special, adding to its presence in the teambuilder and unpredictability in battle. Checking Dragonite completely is difficult. For example, Cotton Guard Altaria checks physical variants yet struggles to check special Z-Move variants. Tapu Lele needs to guess Dragonite's set, as using Calm Mind or Z-Reflect can result in a loss with an incorrect guess. This is not isolated to Tapu Lele; many defensive Pokémon such as Will-O-Wisp + Calm Mind Mega Sableye and Iron Defense + Amnesia Mega Slowbro also face this issue. Mega Lopunny and Greninja are usually quite solid checks, but they both are OHKOed by Choice Scarf Dragonite's Superpower. Additionally, some players run quirky sets like Firium Z to muscle past Dragonite's usual counters such as Magearna and Mega Metagross, to great effect. Near the end of the generation, Dragonite received a suspect test, and the topic remains controversial. Some players believe Dragonite is (still) broken and deserves a ban, and so Dragonite was suspected after 1v1PL VI, which ended with it narrowly avoiding a ban. It is still on watch for the forseeable future, but it will likely stay around, bar drastic changes.

Mew had been a rising threat throughout 2021 and 2022, utilizing a newly discovered Normalium Z set. After setting Light Screen or Reflect, Mew is a defensive behemoth, soaking up damage before healing back to full with Z-Transform. Normalium Z Mew had quite a few options, including Thunder Wave to eliminate Speed ties after Transform and outspeed faster threats such as Greninja and Naganadel, Seismic Toss to not fold to Taunt users, notably allowing Mew to use Z-Transform after Taunt, and Will-O-Wisp for various physical attackers. Mew could also hold a Kee Berry, which, combined with Will-O-Wisp and Roost to allow it to outlast physical threats like Mega Mawile and Mega Metagross. Taunt disrupted setup, Seismic Toss gave it a source of consistent damage, and Amnesia outlasted special attackers. Depending on what the team needed, Mew could switch between any of these. Mewnium Z for Tapu Bulu and Kommo-o was also worth considering as a more offensive option. Mew had plenty of customizability outside of these sets as well; its unmatched coverage allowed it to beat almost any supposed check. Some notable recent examples included Groundium Z for Steel-types and Poisonium Z for SubSeed users and Fairy-types. Some players began to argue that this Pokémon is broken due to its sheer versatility and unpredictability, starting as early as WC V. When SM council decided to hold a suspect slate for Dragonite and sleep-inducing moves, they also voted to not take action against Mew, which was met with plenty of public criticism. Following this public response, SM 1v1 council decided to poll the playerbase about a Mew suspect, which was officially announced just before 1v1 Classic and eventually ended with Mew's removal from SM 1v1. In Mew's absence, Dragonite may be too much for the metagame as well, but it is too early to tell for sure.

Today's SM 1v1 metagame involves many SubSeed Pokémon, such as Serperior, Jumpluff, Whimsicott, and Shaymin. These Pokémon are referred to as Speed traps, since, if they are faster and can survive turn 1, they use Leech Seed and lose HP slower than the enemy in tandem with Substitute and Protect. These Pokémon force counterplay on every team, such as fast offensive Pokémon like Protean Greninja, Taunt users like Heatran, Grass-types like Mega Venusaur, Speed-boosting moves like Flame Charge on Charizard, and sound move users like Hyper Voice Mega Gardevoir. Each Pokémon that utilizes this strategy has a slightly different set of matchups which differentiates them from the others. Serperior has Contrary Leaf Storm, which helps against more defensive Pokémon such as Mega Altaria and Type: Null. It also has Taunt to defeat Registeel. Jumpluff has Sleep Powder, which allows it to beat slower Pokémon that would otherwise KO it, like Victini. Whimsicott can run Occa Berry to beat traditional Speed trap answers like Flame Charge Mega Charizard X, ignoring the Speed boost thanks to Prankster. Lastly, with the offensive power of a boosted Seed Flare, Z-Celebrate Shaymin can defeat some Taunt users such as Mega Mawile or faster offensive Pokémon such as Greninja and Choice Scarf Porygon-Z.

Z-Celebrate Pokémon are commonplace in SM 1v1, utilizing a +1 boost to every stat to overwhelm the likes of Charizard, Gardevoir, and Zeraora. Additionally, these Pokémon are quite versatile. Victini can feasibly use Choice Band or Icium Z, and Meloetta can use Calm Mind + Normalium Z. Like many of SM's other top threats, versatility is key. Meloetta and Victini are not the only Pokémon to use Z-Crystals for this purpose; Z-Conversion Porygon-Z is also a threat in its own right, since it gets to change its type in addition to the boosts. Z-Celebrate Shaymin and Kommonium Z Kommo are all viable as well, but they are not quite as prominent. These Z-Move users are just part of a larger trend in SM: the necessity of going first. Whether it's Dragon Dance on Dragonite, Gyarados, or Mega Charizard X, Icy Wind on Mega Gardevoir or Tapu Fini, Rock Tomb on Heatran or Landorus, being able to outspeed your opponent is essential to success in SM 1v1.

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ORAS

ORAS 1v1 has seen plenty of changes in the past years, even if the metagame had a steady banlist from when Deoxys-D was banned after the generation ended until very recently. This does not mean ORAS was a stagnant generation—quite the contrary! The metagame was continually evolving, even as the roster of Pokémon stayed the same. During PL VI, a partial ban on sleep-inducing moves was announced, which was already the first ban in years. However, the ORAS playerbase had also been sleeping on Snorlax, a Pokémon that routinely terrorizes 1v1 tiers. Its high HP and Special Defense, solid Attack, and ginormous movepool made it a menace to play against. Before 1v1PL VI, Snorlax almost exclusively ran an Amnesia and Defense Curl set, aiming to stall out the opponent with Rest, with Rocky Helmet for extra chip damage on physical attackers. This remained its main set, but players began to branch out, including offensive variants with Curse, Belly Drum, or Choice Band. Counter sets with Chople Berry further limited true checks, luring in Fighting-types such as Mega Medicham and KOing them by surprise. These new innovations proved to be too much for the tier, resulting in a quickban after the tournament.

Charizard is the best Pokémon in the ORAS 1v1 metagame—on Team Preview, it is often difficult to discern which Mega Charizard forme the opponent has. Both Mega Evolutions have a different typing and fill different roles in the metagame, so covering both of them in one slot can be difficult. In the earlier years of ORAS 1v1, Mega Charizard X mainly ran physically defensive Will-O-Wisp sets. In addition to this, offensive and specially defensive Mega Charizard X have become common. Physically defensive sets now run Counter for a greater chance against Rock Tomb Mega Tyranitar and Diamond Storm Mega Diancie, while specially defensive sets check Greninja. However, Greninja recently started running Dark Pulse or Surf with Hydro Cannon on SubPetaya sets to break Charizard's Substitutes, rendering this set less reliable as a Greninja counter if not running Flame Charge. Mega Charizard X has risen to become the most centralizing Pokémon in any 1v1 generation played in team tournaments. Charizard saw 50% total usage in the 1v1WC VI ORAS slot. Despite this unmatched amount of centralization, most ORAS 1v1 players do not see Mega Charizard X as a problem. It has the potential to beat many of its checks, such as Terrakion and Mega Diancie, with defensive investment, or with niche moves, such as Brick Break for Heatran and Belly Drum for Mega Slowbro. However, it usually has to bend over backwards to defeat its checks. Players that vary their checks to Charizard are unlikely to be counterteamed by specific sets. As long as a player is not reliant on any specific check to Mega Charizard X, they will not run into too many issues.

Compared to Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y hasn't changed as much since ORAS was the current generation. It still prefers its offensive set, firing off sun-boosted Blast Burns while breaking through some weaker Water-types such as stall Manaphy with Solar Beam. Mega Charizard Y used to run a physically defensive Hidden Power Electric set for Mega Gyarados, but this set has become worse because Mega Gyarados now commonly runs Stone Edge to beat Charizard and Kyurem-B more reliably. Substitute on both Mega Charizard X and Y can also cheese some checks that count on Rock Tomb or Stone Edge by fishing for misses and force predictions versus slow Meloetta and Porygon-Z. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing! A vocal faction of ORAS 1v1 players have argued that Mega Charizard Y is unhealthy after 1v1WC VI, because of Air Slash's flinch chances, Substitute's ability to pish miss chances on Rock-type moves, and Mega Charizard Y's additional winning matchups against many Water-types. This section of the community was not large enough to have a suspect before 1v1 Classic, but discussion of the state of ORAS 1v1 centers around Mega Charizard Y.

Mega Gyarados is one of the best checks to Charizard and as such has risen alongside it. Thanks to Dragon Dance, Outrage, and Stone Edge, it also checks many other Pokémon, such as Garchomp and Kyurem-B, as well as taking out other popular Pokémon such as Mega Tyranitar and Heatran with Waterfall. It may also run Taunt for a better matchup against Registeel and Chansey or Crunch for Meloetta and Mega Slowbro.

Kyurem-B is unbanned in ORAS, despite being banned from every other 1v1 generation. It makes use of its wide movepool and great stats to run a wide variety of sets, but not at the same level as in other generations. Initially, its most common item was Choice Scarf, but it also ran other items such as Choice Specs and Choice Band to muscle through bulkier Pokémon. However, in modern-day ORAS 1v1, Kyurem-B most often runs a Haban Berry set, which is able to beat Charizard while covering many bulkier Pokémon such as Mega Sableye and Mega Slowbro by running Toxic and Roost. Its older sets still see some usage, but they have fallen off over the years. Nowadays, despite its metagame-warping effects in every other generation it has been allowed in, Kyurem-B is not considered very good in ORAS. Steel- and Rock-types run ORAS, and it also has to fear Mega Gyarados, Mega Lopunny, Sylveon, and Gardevoir.

Before 1v1PL V, Victini wasn't a meta-defining Pokémon. Both Heatran and Charizard were considered better Fire-types, since their secondary typing helped more in the metagame. However, with the rise of Mega Gyarados and the popularity of Steel- and Fairy-types, Victini carved itself a niche in the current metagame. Its popular Weakness Policy set is able to beat the aforementioned threats, as well as threaten Pokémon that are usually used to defeat both Heatran and Charizard such as Stone Edge Mega Gyarados with Will-O-Wisp.

Both Mega Metagross, and Mega Mawile are physically offensive Steel-type Pokémon, making them great picks into a variety of prevalent threats such as Mega Altaria, Mega Gardevoir, with sufficient bulk to outlast Mega Gyarados and Greninja. However, each has key matchups that differentiate them from the other. For example, Mega Metagross has better matchups against Mega Mawile, Landorus-T, Mega Venusaur, and offensive Manaphy. Meanwhile, Mega Mawile has better matchups versus Mega Sableye, Serperior, and Genesect. Mega Mawile can also tech defensive Pokémon such as Mega Slowbro with Swords Dance and Punishment, gaining another matchup over Mega Metagross.

The prevalence of Charizard and Victini makes Mega Diancie an enticing pick when building ORAS 1v1. Diancie can choose whether or not to Mega Evolve, garnering favorable matchups versus a larger portion of the metagame. Before Mega Evolving, Diancie sponges hits from offensive Pokémon more easily, while after, its increased Speed and offenses allow it to KO some faster Pokémon like Garchomp. However, in order to get the Speed stat increase from Mega Evolution, it has to run Protect, since Speed updates at the end of the turn in ORAS. Diancie can forgo a Mega Stone and run a Weakness Policy set with Trick Room and Iron Defense, giving it a good matchup against Mega Gyarados, though it is not as consistent without the option to Mega Evolve.

Mega Gardevoir has not changed significantly since early XY. Metagame shifts have neither hurt nor boosted its viability, other than decreased Iron Head usage on Kyurem-B and increased popularity of Mega Diancie, as it has a good matchup against both. Gardevoir has a great matchup against bulky teams due to its access to Encore and Calm Mind.

Mega Altaria is a fairly decent Charizard check, and it has gained more popularity now due to other beneficial metagame shifts: Kyurem-B has opted for Ice Beam less and Mega Gyarados is gaining traction. It is also able to beat all other Dragon-type Pokémon due to its Fairy typing and great bulk, providing a useful range of matchups for many teams. With Facade, Mega Altaria is even more secure as a Charizard check, as it turns the tables on Will-O-Wisp and Toxic variants.

Mega Lopunny was previously considered the best Fighting-type Pokémon, but Mega Medicham has begun to see more usage. Mega Medicham's typing and various coverage moves, like Ice Punch, Poison Jab, and Bullet Punch, as well as STAB Zen Headbutt allow it to muscle through relevant threats such as Landorus-T, Serperior, Diancie, and Mega Venusaur. It also checks bulky Pokémon that can defeat Mega Lopunny such as Manaphy and Mega Altaria. Endure can catch Mega Lopunny and Greninja off guard, forcing a recharge turn after Giga Impact or Hydro Cannon while Mega Medicham OHKOes.

Manaphy has been getting more usage due to its stall set, which was previously underexplored. Stall Manaphy defeats many Pokémon that check its offensive sets like Mega Metagross, Mega Mawile, and Mega Slowbro, thanks to Acid Armor's Defense boost and high PP, along with Calm Mind to gradually boost Scald's damage and Rest for longevity. However, it fails to check Fighting-type Pokémon such as Mega Lopunny and Mega Medicham, which Mega Slowbro can. Mega Slowbro also has Oblivious before Mega Evolving; therefore, Taunt users such as Mega Sableye and Victini cannot break through it. Mega Slowbro struggles against Mega Gengar, Greninja, and Mega Tyranitar, which are checked better by Manaphy. Mega Slowbro's place as the best bulky Water-type in ORAS 1v1 has been challenged, but it still is not going anywhere!

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BW

Since 1v1PL V, BW 1v1 has undergone significant changes, banning Kyurem-B, Dragonite, and Victini before and during 1v1PL, as well as Togekiss and Mew following 1v1WC V and Jirachi during PL VI. It's been a wild ride for BW 1v1 players, but the tier has reached a stable state at last.

Kyurem-B was previously suspect tested in 2018 by the provisional BW council, which resulted in it staying in the tier. Nearly two years of development later, in October 2020, the community decided it was time to re-evaluate Kyurem-B's effect on the metagame. There were sizable portions of the community that opposed the potential ban, including the leader at the time. They often cited the common checks used to counter Kyurem-B and the opportunity cost for running Kyurem-B sets to counter specific checks. However, there were many council and community members who wished for a ban, citing its overpowering stats and versatility, allowing it to run whatever it needs to counter specific threats. A vote was held, but Kyurem-B once again evaded a ban. Some of the votes in this suspect were reportedly not reflective of people's actual feelings, and 8/18 voters abstained. This fiasco angered quite a few and only added more tension to the debate. With these concerns, and Kyurem-B's continued dominance, an unofficial tournament that banned Kyurem-B called "BW Kyubless" was hosted by STABLE, and won by Potatochan. After this tournament, the topic of a Kyurem-B suspect test resurfaced, and it was banned in January of 2021, just before 1v1PL V, citing earlier ban arguments.

In the absence of Kyurem-B, Dragonite also became too much to handle. In just 2 weeks of tournament play during 1v1PL V, Dragonite proved to be way stronger than any other Pokémon in the metagame; Dragonite ran a plethora of sets at little to no opportunity cost—physical and special Dragon Gem, Choice Scarf, Choice Band and Choice Specs, and Haban Berry all saw use, and true counters to Dragonite were practically nonexistent. Dragonite's suspect was decided in under 15 minutes, with nearly every voter voting to remove Dragonite from BW 1v1.

1v1PL V continued, and Victini began to rise, but its impact on the metagame was not as immediately clear as Kyurem-B or Dragonite. As the tournament progressed, players realized that Victini was versatile enough to handle most of its checks, minus some Keldeo variants. It could run Passho or Shuca Berry to defeat most of its Water- and Ground-type checks and beat nearly everything else in the metagame with Will-O-Wisp and Fire Gem-boosted V-create. After 1v1PL V's conclusion, a suspect was held, and it ended with Victini's removal from the tier. An announcement that the items Bright Powder, Lax Incense, Focus Band, and Quick Claw were all banned by the council was also included in the same post.

BW 1v1 was still not stable, however. In 1v1WC V, Togekiss rose to prominence as a versatile wall. It ran Thunder Wave, Roost, Air Slash, and Encore and could beat just about anything with a resist Berry or a bit of luck. Togekiss could also run Choice Scarf or Choice Specs with slight opportunity cost to catch surprise wins against Suicune, Jirachi, and Metagross. Togekiss's centralization and unhealthiness were further proven in BW No Johns, hosted by council member Sanshokuinsumireko and won by AOPSUser. After the tournament, Togekiss was quickbanned by the council, citing its uncompetitiveness and unmatched defensive capabilities.

After Togekiss, Mew became overpowering throughout 1v1 Classic. Its unmatched coverage, combined with great defensive capabilities, allowed it to KO or outlast just about every Pokémon in the metagame, with some opportunity cost between sets. Mew could use Trick with any Choice item or a variety of resist Berries to beat any of its usual counters. For example, it could take out Volcarona with Choice Scarf Rock Slide, Genesect with Fire moves, and Tyranitar and Scrafty with Will-O-Wisp and Counter. Mew was suspected and banned, with very little opposition.

Post Mew, BW Council had their eyes on Jirachi and Sableye as the next big threats to watch for. While Sableye proved to be underwhelming in 1v1PL VI, Jirachi proved to be immensely problematic. Jirachi mainly ran the Choice Scarf, using Trick to disrupt potential counterplay, as well as Zen Headbutt and Iron Head to fire off powerful attacks with a 60% flinch chance thanks to Serene Grace. In addition to Choice Scarf, Jirachi could also use Choice Specs, beating various checks to its Choice Scarf set, such as Sableye, Cresselia, and Rhyperior. Jirachi also made use of Air Balloon, surprising Ground-types such as Garchomp, Donphan, and Landorus-T, rendering them unreliable as checks. When considering all common sets, Jirachi only lost to most Fire- and Electric-types, as well as some Water-types, such as Jellicent, assuming they avoided flinches from Zen Headbutt. Jirachi was suspected after week 3 of 1v1PL VI and was banned by a wide margin. The BW 1v1 metagame seems to have finally stabilized since this ban, with Snorlax as the only Pokémon with potential to be broken. Following the precedent set by other old generations, BW 1v1 also banned sleep-inducing moves after PL VI.

The current BW metagame has many threats that should be kept in mind while building a team. Make sure you have a check for these when building, as they are all at least somewhat common in tournament play!

Volcarona has danced its way to the top of the BW 1v1 metagame in the aftermath of these bans. Its typing allows it to naturally counter Steel- and Psychic-type Pokémon, which are both dominant. Quiver Dance is essential to many matchups against offensive Pokémon such as Meloetta and Latios. Charti Berry ensure Volcarona can take Rock-type coverage moves from Choice Scarf attackers, like Sawk and Heracross, KOing them back with its powerful STAB attacks. Volcarona sometimes uses Bug Gem or Fire Gem for the extra power on its STAB attacks, but Charti Berry is generally preferred for consistency.

Keldeo is a premier threat in the BW 1v1 metagame—its high natural bulk and Special Attack let it muscle through a vast swath of the metagame. Its typing also plays a big part of its effectiveness, giving it the upper hand against Tyranitar, Volcarona, and Crustle. Keldeo is quite customizable, using Icy Wind for Dragon-type Pokémon such as Garchomp and Haxorus and utility versus Crustle and Reflect for Snorlax.

Snorlax has many appealing characteristics in BW. It has good matchups against specially offensive Pokémon like Volcarona, Latios, and Genesect due to its gargantuan Special Defense and HP stats. It also has a good Attack stat and a solid defensive typing. Snorlax is also quite versatile, running four main sets. The first of these is Choice Band, which sponges damage before retaliating with devastating damage. The second of these is Belly Drum with Gluttony and Custap Berry, which boosts up to maximum Attack and attacks first the next turn. The third is stall, boosting its defenses to become impenetrable, either using the Sitrus Berry for extra recovery or Mail to be immune to Trick. Keep in mind that Mail is visible in BW, so using Mail on a Pokémon reveals that it is a stall set, eliminating unpredictability. The fourth, and by far least common, variant is Chople Berry, which lures in many Fighting-types and OHKOes them with Counter. Snorlax has a lot of versatility, but it also has plenty of opportunity cost. For example, offensive Snorlax easily defeats Volcarona, but stall Snorlax loses because Volcarona can freely use Quiver Dance while Snorlax uses Rest. While Snorlax roams free in BW 1v1, it is banned in every other 1v1 generation due to its frightening versatility. However, in the tier with the most bans in recent memory, it has ironically dodged the banhammer.

With no weaknesses and BW's high burn damage, Sableye is the perfect stall Pokémon, until a critical hit strikes it down. Its main move options are Will-O-Wisp, Recover, and Taunt, with the fourth move being a choice between Foul Play and Calm Mind. Sableye is one of the best counters to common stall Pokémon and many physically oriented Pokémon, like Cresselia, Snorlax, Garchomp and Donphan, as well as many special attackers when carrying Calm Mind. When Sableye hits Will-O-Wisp and avoids getting struck by a critical hit over multiple turns, it covers a wide variety of Pokémon, but its matchups are usually highly variant.

The secret behind the success of most Psychic-type Pokémon, other than their good typing(s), is the move Trick. Cresselia is one of the best users of the combo of Choice Scarf + Trick, which weakens the foe's attacking move, snatching items like Choice Band, Choice Specs, and Gems and also allows it to PP stall various threats such as Crustle, Serperior, and Aerodactyl. Trick also locks the opponent into a potential status move, which results in a win for the Trick user on PP. Metagross is different from the others because its Steel typing. It takes neutral hits from Dark-, Bug-, and Ghost-type moves, at the cost of new weaknesses to Fire- and Ground-type attacks. Metagross is also more bulky and physically offensive than other Psychic-types and has priority in Bullet Punch. Latios is a fearsome special attacker with good STAB moves and coverage; Timid Latios's Draco Meteor is a common EV benchmark on various Pokémon. Much like Cresselia, Latios uses Trick quite often as a form of disruption.

The BW 1v1 metagame has a lot of great Electric-type Pokémon that fill different niches, namely Thundurus, Raikou, and Zapdos. Electric-types are popular because of their great offensive coverage, especially given the low usage of Ground-type Pokémon and the prominence of Keldeo, Suicune, and Manaphy. Thundurus is the most versatile of the bunch, utilizing Prankster to disrupt the opponent. Charge is an amazing move, boosting Special Defense with +1 priority while also doubling Thundurus's damage output the next turn. Charge allows Thundurus to beat less bulky foes, such as Genesect, Metagross, and offensive Zapdos. Thundurus can also run a Toxic set, using Protect, Substitute, and Fly to rack up damage passive damage. It defeats most Pokémon that can get hit by Toxic and not OHKO it, since the Custap Berry allows it to move before slower foes. Raikou differentiates itself from Thundurus with Pressure and marginally better bulk. It usually runs a Pressure stall set with Substitute and Protect, with Thunderbolt and one of Calm Mind or Rest. Raikou can also run a surprise Choice Specs set. You've been warned! Last, but certainly not least, Zapdos usually runs a Choice Specs set, using Heat Wave and STAB Hidden Power Flying to take on Grass- and Fighting-type Pokémon such as Serperior and Scrafty. As for its last move, it usually runs Hyper Beam, which helps against Haxorus and Rotom-H.

Porygon-Z has recently has risen in popularity, following 1v1PL VI. Its Adaptability-boosted Hyper Beam is not to be taken lightly and is even scarier with Normal Gem; even specially defensive Pokémon like Scrafty and Suicune are OHKOed by it. Porygon-Z also can hold Choice Scarf, OHKOing faster threats such as Keldeo and Latios. Choice Scarf Porygon-Z is also notable as a Trick user; foes that use Substitute to force Porygon-Z to recharge after using Hyper Beam must be wary of being locked into Substitute with Porygon-Z's Trick. Trick also allows Porygon-Z to defeat Shell Smash Crustle and various SubSeed users. With just these two sets alone, Porygon-Z garners favorable matchups versus a variety of top Pokémon, seeing use on a wide variety of teams.

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DPP

DPP 1v1 is the oldest 1v1 generation included in 1v1 team tournaments. It had remained static for the greater part of a year, with the ban of Snorlax in June of 2020. After 1v1 World Cup V, the DPP Council received an overhaul. PA took over the tier as leader, replacing Synonimous. This change added several new council members and quickbanned Togekiss, all in one fell swoop.

After 1v1 Classic V, a community suspect about Machamp was held. Contrary to most Pokémon suspect tested recently in 1v1, Machamp's suspect test was not about its relative power level, but rather its uncompetitiveness. Machamp has Dynamic Punch and No Guard, giving it a hard-hitting STAB attack that causes confusion 100% of the time. With Custap Berry and Endure, Machamp could fire off a last-ditch Dynamic Punch when low on health. Endure was quite the nightmare to play around on its own, inducing coinflips against recharge move users such as Giga Impact Ambipom and allowed Machamp to fish for confusion, cheesing Pokémon resistant to Fighting such as Heracross on occasion and avoiding Kingdra's Disable. If that wasn't enough, Machamp also commonly carried Encore, which forced many would-be solid checks like stall Raikou and Sceptile to choose between using Substitute on a Bulk Up and risking getting Encore locked or attacking and risking confusion chances from Dynamic Punch. Arguments against a Machamp ban cited its lack of reliability in most matchups, relying on coinflips and prediction. It also had quite a few solid checks, such as Cresselia and Zapdos, and many more checks that could win most of the time. When it was all said and done, Machamp was banned from DPP 1v1.

Without Snorlax, DPP 1v1 centralized around Shaymin, Cresselia, and Tyranitar, all of which were considered banworthy to some. The first of these on the chopping block was Cresselia, which was suspected but not banned. Cresselia could beat large swaths of the metagame with specific sets, but each set had distinct weaknesses. Choice Specs gave Cresselia immediate power, threatening checks such as offensive Tyranitar with Grass Knot, Jirachi and Heatran with Hidden Power Ground, opposing Cresselia with Shadow Ball, and even Metagross with more defense investment. Cresselia could also run Trick + Choice Scarf itself, with Psychic and/or Ice Beam as damaging options and recovery for outlasting weaker opponents. Choice Scarf was also more reliable versus faster threats such as Aerodactyl and Infernape. Stall Cresselia was also an option, getting past Pokémon that commonly stop Trick with Mail or Choice items like Slaking, Raikou, and Zapdos. Cresselia's set was often difficult to guess on Team Preview, which, in the eyes of some, pushed Cresselia over the edge; there are plenty of checks and counters to Cresselia, although using one of them significantly limits the styles of teams available to the player.

With Cresselia staying, Shaymin was the next Pokémon on the chopping block. Shaymin's most powerful set was its Leech Seed set with Leftovers, Mail, or Occa Berry, allowing it to defeat most slower Pokémon that fail to OHKO it with Leech Seed, Protect, and Substitute. However, Shaymin also acted as a powerful offensive threat with Choice Specs or even Choice Scarf, allowing it to beat some Fire-types like Infernape, Heatran, and Arcanine with Earth Power. Shaymin's ability to tech common checks, even seemingly solid ones like Zapdos and Gallade, forced players to either accept losing to specific Shaymin sets or use suboptimal Pokémon like Choice Scarf Staraptor, Scizor, and Venusaur to guarantee the Shaymin matchup. This was deemed far too centralizing to be healthy, so Shaymin was quickbanned from DPP 1v1. Following Shaymin's removal from DPP 1v1, frustrations about the high-variance nature of the tier and successive bans reached a boiling point, which led to DPP being removed from the lineup of 1v1PL VI. DPP now only sees high-level play as part of the multigen best-of-five slot in 1v1PL and 1v1WC, as well as DPP Cup in 1v1 Classic. However, if you are moved to learn DPP, the next few paragraphs will help you get started!

In addition to being a top-tier threat, Tyranitar is also one of the best checks to Cresselia, boosting its viability significantly. It is arguably the best Pokémon in the tier, pairing with most common Pokémon to achieve success. Its good natural matchups versus Cresselia and Electric-types as well as its immense customizability all make Tyranitar hard to pass up. It will often carry Chople Berry to take Fighting-type coverage moves—or even some Fighting-type STAB attacks like Infernape's Close Combat with enough investment—before firing back with Counter. Tyranitar also commonly uses Choice Band, packing a powerful punch, or Dragon Dance + Taunt to become a powerful wallbreaker. Choice Scarf Tyranitar is a less common option, picking up the OHKO on various threats like Dragonite and maintaining a good matchup versus the likes of Zapdos and Cresselia.

Clefable has successfully adapted to recent trends and seen an increase in usage. Its Thunder Wave + Encore + Seismic Toss + Soft-Boiled set is difficult to play around, usually requiring brute force to KO. This set is a direct counter to stall Pokémon due to the combination of Seismic Toss and Encore. Encore, in addition to being an anti-stall measure, also allows Clefable to lock Cresselia, Jirachi, and Rotom into Trick, nullifying their counterplay to passive Pokémon. Clefable also has options to break through more offensive threats, such as Dragonite—using Thunder Wave into Seismic Toss and using Soft-Boiled as necessary, Clefable wears down weaker offensive Pokémon gradually. Clefable may also use a Chople Berry to catch some physical attackers like Dragonite and Gallade off guard with Counter, losing out on one of its core moves to gain a surprise win.

Infernape is a potent mixed attacker, with high-power STAB attacks in Close Combat, Blast Burn, and Overheat. Encore and Infernape's great Speed allow it to lock opposing Pokémon into status moves, which is useful against Mail Cresselia and stall Zapdos. Mach Punch provides utility versus Custap Berry or Salac Berry users, such as Heracross, and makes Infernape a more reliable answer to Chople Berry Tyranitar and Weavile. Infernape uses Endure with either a Petaya or Salac Berry to survive an incoming attack and boost its Special Attack or Speed, utilizing Blaze in the process as well. The Special Attack boost from Petaya Berry is notable versus Choice Specs Zapdos, Hariyama, and Gallade, whereas the Speed from the Salac Berry is useful for Choice Scarf Jirachi, Choice Specs Raikou, Choice Scarf Heatran, and Choice Specs Azelf.

DPP has two major Electric-types to be aware of—Zapdos and Raikou. Both of them have similar sets, namely Pressure stall and Choice Specs, differentiating themselves mainly with their movepools and typings. Zapdos is immune to Ground and has Heat Wave and STAB Flying attacks. This gives it a better matchup versus Steel- and Grass-types, such as Registeel, Metagross, Sceptile, and Tangrowth. However, Raikou has Signal Beam, Aura Sphere, and Shadow Ball, netting wins versus various prominent Pokémon such as Celebi, non-Chople Berry Tyranitar, Rotom-A, and sometimes Cresselia. Pressure Stall nets both wins versus some slower Choice item users, forcing them to Struggle. Raikou also matches up much better versus other Electric-types, such as Rotom-A and Zapdos, and is significantly faster than Zapdos, netting various positive matchups, such as against Arcanine and Gengar.

Dragonite is the only common Dragon-type in DPP 1v1, since Latios, Latias, and Garchomp are all banned. Because of its below-average Speed, it usually uses either Dragon Dance or Choice Scarf. Dragon Dance is preferred, since it allows Dragonite to boost its Attack and mitigate its kryptonite—Hidden Power Ice—with Yache Berry. If immediate power against the likes of Kingdra and/or many different coverage moves are required, such as Superpower for Tyranitar, Choice Scarf is a good option as well. For the adventurous among you, special Dragonite is an option as well, luring in checks such as Rhyperior and Tyranitar and taking them out with Surf and Focus Blast, which frees up potential partners like Tyranitar as well.

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ADV

ADV 1v1 has seen a rapid surge of development recently, going from an emerging metagame to one with an active following. This has to do in part with ADV's hyper-enthusiastic leader LRXC. LRXC puts an abundance of energy into his YouTube videos about the tier, and jumps at any opportunity to gush about new discoveries. This energy is infectious and has recruited a dedicated following for the tier. ADV 1v1 has been included in 1v1 Classic for 3 years now, in 1v1 Classic III, 1v1 Classic IV, and 1v1 Classic V, but it also has recently gained enough traction to rival the popularity of the older generations currently included in team tournaments. Much to the chagrin of ADV 1v1 fans, it is unlikely that ADV will be included in team tournaments, as that would require adding an additional slot to the tournament at a time when tournament signups are decreasing. However, it sees plenty of activity outside of team tournaments. LRXC proposed a tournament to develop the tier, which came to fruition as ADV 1v1 Duos Swiss, hosted by Boat with a $40 prize pool provided by LRXC himself. The prize money was ultimately won by TDK and SoulWind, who were new to the tier but certainly not new to the tournament scene. The tournament brought innovation and general excitement to the tier, especially given the money at stake.

During the tournament, Potatochan began experimenting with Clefable in ADV. It was unranked at the time, but it seemed promising. Little did he know what he was about to unleash! His Clefable set, with Thunder Wave, Seismic Toss, Soft-Boiled, and Encore and Ganlon Berry to raise Defense, soon took a chokehold on the metagame. Its high natural bulk coupled with Thunder Wave, Encore, and recovery proved nearly impossible to defeat reliably without a Fighting-type Pokémon on every team. After the tournament, the ADV 1v1 council unanimously quickbanned Clefable.

Zapdos was the premier Pokémon in ADV due to its numerous positive attributes. Its typing mixed with its good offensive and defensive stats makes it a constant threat in the teambuilder. It mainly used Substitute with Petaya Berry, losing health until the Petaya Berry activates, raising Special Attack. Furthermore, it could run a mix-up with Choice Band to defeat Pokémon that beat its most used set such as Sceptile and Tyranitar. It suffered against specially defensive Pokémon such as Registeel and Blissey and against Rock- and Ice-type Pokémon such as Regirock, Armaldo, Tyranitar and Regice. However, during the recent ADV 1v1 Ladder Tournament, innovations such as Metal Sound, Agility, and Thunder Wave proved too much in aggregate, and as a result, Zapdos was banned after Cycle 1.

ADV has had plenty of innovation outside of bans—here's a few notable examples!

Sceptile is a threatening Pokémon due to its Leech Seed + Seismic Toss set, 3HKOing foes using Rest. New EV spreads allow Sceptile to tank an unboosted Ice Beam from Regice and Meteor Mash from Choice Band Metagross, taking advantage of its naturally great Speed and supplementing its mediocre bulk. Sceptile can also run SubPetaya with Hidden Power Ice to take on Salamence and Choice Band with Rock Slide for Charizard, adding to its already great matchup spread.

Registeel is the face of stall in ADV. It runs Seismic Toss, Iron Defense/Counter, Amnesia, and Rest, aiming to outlast opponent's Pokémon by setting up an impenetrable defense before chipping them down. More often than not, Registeel's matchups are quite unreliable, as it has to avoid being struck by a critical hit over several successive turns. Moreover, some Pokémon adapted to it, changing their movesets. Sceptile and Ludicolo run Seismic Toss with Leech Seed to outdamage Rest's healing. Other Pokémon have begun to use Taunt with setup moves, most notably Gyarados, Ursaring, and Tyranitar. Even with all these adaptations, Registeel remains a top threat in the ADV metagame due to its (nearly) impenetrable metal frame.

The face of ADV OU is also a top-tier threat in ADV 1v1. Tyranitar's typing, combined with its immense movepool, stats, and Sand Stream, allows it to beat many top-tier threats such as Regice, Registeel, and Raikou. It mainly utilizes Dragon Dance, Rock Slide, and Earthquake to muscle through Registeel, Zapdos, and Raikou, as well as Taunt to stop setup.

Alakazam is a powerful threat due to its versatility. Encore allows it to defeat stall Pokémon such as Registeel by locking them into status moves and setting up with Calm Mind. Along with Encore and Calm Mind, Barrier allows it to beat many physical attackers. Alakazam also has Fire Punch and Ice Punch as coverage, further expanding its matchup spread.

Kingdra, affectionately called Kingbruh by some, is a rising star in ADV 1v1. It uses Rain Dance to boost its Water-type moves and double its Speed thanks to Swift Swim, becoming a powerful threat and showing off some sick moves! In addition to the rain, Kingdra can boost the power of its moves further with a Petaya Berry and Substitute. One downside when using Kingdra is that it is often forced into coinflips against Substitute users, which stall out rain turns if Kingdra decides not to attack turn 1.

Ursaring emerged during ADV Cup of 1v1 Classic V, utilizing Choice Band with Return to defeat Pressure Pokémon such as Raikou and Zapdos while packing a devastating Hyper Beam. It can also run Taunt with Swords Dance to muscle through Registeel. Ursaring is often held back by being somewhat prediction reliant—being forced to choose between breaking Substitutes with Return or going for the OHKO with Hyper Beam makes some matchups unreliable.

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GSC

After seeing the success of ADV, Mishlef, an active 1v1 community member, decided to take on developing an even older generation—GSC. Shortly thereafter, he handed over the TL position to SuperMemeBroz, who is enthusiastic about the project. GSC was previously deemed too uncompetitive to be developed due to a combination of high variance and a lack of EV customization. However, despite this warning, SMBZ and several other 1v1 community members began playing GSC 1v1, forming a metagame council and producing sample teams and viability rankings. During this process, some players began to believe there was one Pokémon that was too much for the tier.

Zapdos, with incredible Speed and Special Attack, good bulk, secondary Flying type to keep Ground-types at bay, and the potential to beat many of its counters, was centralizing. It was not without counters, but they were slim and usually had to use several moveslots to ensure they beat Zapdos, straining teambuilding significantly. A suspect test was held, with top performers in two live tournaments and GSC Council as voters, and ended with the removal of Zapdos from the tier. A few days later, GSC 1v1 became a challengeable format on Pokémon Showdown!

After this, GSC 1v1 had a startup tournament, hosted by SuperMemeBroz and won by call me PK. During this tournament, Alakazam proved itself to be centralizing—its high Speed and Special Attack, with vast coverage, great core matchups, and access to Barrier and Light Screen, proved to be too much for players. Following this response, Alakazam was suspect tested and banned following the tournament.

GSC 1v1 continues to be played in occasional informal tournaments in the 1v1 room on Pokémon Showdown! and in the GSC 1v1 Discord server. If this metagame looks interesting to you, check out their resources! GSC 1v1 is likely to have another tournament after 1v1 Classic, so stay tuned.

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RBY

RBY 1v1 is a fairly straightforward metagame. Much like GSC, older EV mechanics make the metagame much more deterministic, as only moves and items can change matchups slightly. RBY also has quite different move interactions to other iterations of Pokémon, which makes the metagame quite a unique experience. For example, Exeggutor commonly uses Leech Seed with Toxic because Toxic increases the damage that opponents take from Leech Seed, snowballing passive damage on the opponent.

RBY is the least commonly played of the 1v1 old generations, but that doesn't mean unplayed. It has a small but dedicated community, with a Discord server and resources made by players, as well as sample sets in the Smogon strategy Pokédex. If these pique your interest, feel free to try RBY 1v1 out!

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Final Thoughts

1v1's old generations are essential to the 1v1 community and are continually evolving. 1v1's oldest formats have recently been quite turbulent, expanding their banlists in an ongoing effort to reach a healthy state, whereas ORAS and SM have shifted more subtly, adapting to tournament play. If any specific metagame has caught your eye, you can catch tournaments in the 1v1 room on Pokémon Showdown!, or or discuss any old generation in the 1v1 Discord!

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