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The Beginner's Guide to GSC
Team Building
In this first section you will learn how to build a successful GSC team.
I will begin by listing some of the most common threats in GSC so you will know what you have to counter when building your team:
Snorlax (Curser)
Blissey (Heal Beller/Special Wall)
Skarmory (PsuedoHazer/Physical Wall)
Suicune (PsuedoHazer/Bulky Water)
Forretress (Spiker)
Zapdos (RestTalker)
Marowak (Thick Club)
Tyranitar (Awesome Movepool with great stats)
Misdreavus (Perishtrapper)
Starmie (Special sweeper with Recover and good moves)
While you will definitely be seeing more pokemon than just that, they cover the various things that you will be needing to counter in your team. If your team cannot counter a curselax, you have already failed. I am not going to go into huge detail with movesets in this guide. You will have to do your research if you want to understand more in depth details.
Now we will start making a generic GSC team.
Lead: Forretress @ Leftovers
Spikes
Rapid Spin
Explosion
Reflect/Bug Hidden Power
This is a pretty simple pokemon. He has a 4x weakness against fire moves so be careful. Basically you just lay down Spikes and set up a Reflect to help your team. If they lay spikes, you can blow them away. If a specific pokemon is giving you trouble you might be able to explode on it. Bug Power is there if you need to attack with your Forretress (but you probably will not need to.)
Blissey @ Leftovers
Heal Bell
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Softboiled
This is the standard Heal Bell set. Nothing resists both Ice Beam and Thunderbolt.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Thunderbolt/Thunder
Water Hidden Power/Drill Peck
Rest
Sleep Talk
This is pretty much only countered by Blissey if you use the Hidden Power set. It eats the opponents Sleep attack and uses Sleep Talk. Thunder can even put a huge dent in Snorlax. Nothing is really safe against Zapdos.
At the half way point you can tell that you will be having issues against Snorlax, Tyranitar, Misdreavus, and Blissey.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Surf
Roar
Ice Beam/Mirror Coat
Rest
Suicune is a defensive beast. He can absorb physical and special attacks. Mirror Coat can be effective against Zapdos. I prefer Ice Beam because you can actually put a dent in Zapdos with it and hurt Grass types. The rest is self explanatory. He roars away pokemon that are trying to set up. But if a Jolteon is trying to set up for a Marowak then you are going to have issues.
Rhydon @ Leftovers
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Roar
Rest
This is your back up psuedo-hazer. He provides immunity to the electric problems Suicune has. He can also pack a powerful hit with Earthquake and Rock Slide.
Snorlax @ Leftovers
Curse
Double-Edge/Body Slam
Earthquake
Rest
This is pretty much the best pokemon in the game. After one Curse, Double-Edge can do a hard hit to almost everything. Sometimes Body Slam can be more useful if you are facing another Curselax head on. You could get lucky with a few timely FP's. It is up to you really.
Now you have a complete team and you have countered the main threats that I first mentioned. The next step in learning how to battle is the art of predicting. This will be explained in the next section.
Predicting
A good, solid team whose members don't depend on each other but instead co-operate with each other is fundamental to GSC. Its probably the only era where the borderline underused Pok�mon can generally fit in to a lot of standard teams (Electabuzz, Kangaskhan, etc.).
The key to GSC, however is predicting - if you don't predict, and, god forbid, your opponent doesn't predict, you end up with 150 turn games that'll bore the hell out of you. You have to pay attention to your opponent - take note of every one of his pokemon and their movesets.
When you begin a battle with someone, assume the worst - that is, your opponent is running a full-frontal standard team with Snorlax, Blissey, Suicune and company, and they know how to use them. It's important to have counters to these standard pokemon, as mentioned in the previous section.
The most important part of prediction in most teams is versatility. A pokemon that can do damage to most of its common counters is a very, very important asset. Likewise, a Pok�mon that can switch in to a variety of moves is a huge asset (which is why Skarmory and Blissey are such huge assets, both individually and together).
The other half involves actually using the Pok�mon correctly. Let's go over a simple scenario.
Let's say you open with a Nidoking with Lovely Kiss/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Earthquake, and your opponent starts out with a Jolteon. Nidoking is a VERY versatile Pok�mon - it can put a dent in most anything that switches in to it. Knowing Jolteon is more than likely going to switch out, do you Lovely Kiss?
No. It's more than likely your opponent predicts Nidoking is going to Lovely Kiss, and is switching in a nasty Sleep Talker that'll cause you to switch, wasting a turn. Instead, you should opt to fish out your opponent by outpredicting him. Earthquake for safety, or Ice Beam if you're feeling adventerous. Just don't do the most obvious thing. (You wouldn't believe how many times a sleep talking Raikou switches into Lovely Kiss Nidoking, only to get Earthquaked).
Now, let's say it was your Jolteon in that situation, and your opponent was the Nidoking. What should you have done?
The answer is painfully simple. You don't switch in something with a gaping weakness to Nidoking - definitely not Raikou. Opt to be safe - you don't know how skilled your opponent is yet. Send in your "bulky water" or whatever; if Nidoking Lovely Kisses, that's fine, you can Heal Bell it off later. Draw your opponent out; watch for what he is doing.
For the first bit of the game, offensive attacks will mostly be a bust for both parties; you'll be switching in counters without much prediction and you'll both become accustomed to each others team - just don't do anything ridiculously dumb (ie, against a Nidoking, don't send in Jumpluff!). After a few turns and pointless exchange of attacks, you'll begin to get a feel for your opponent's team and playing style.
This is when you've got to start predicting. There isn't like an exact point in the game where you should start predicting, but it's best to draw first blood. When you are the first to predict, you are literally one move ahead of your opponent. Start predicting your opponent's switches and counter them with your own swithces. Be aggressive - don't be afraid to lose a Pok�mon or two in the process of predicting, if you feel your opponent is a gambler, too - most of the time, attacks won't OHKO you; this isn't Advance.
The person who is being more offensive will more than likely win. GSC, although famed to be the stalling era, is not always as slow as people claim. The game is only as slow as you make it; take risks and predict; you'll be rewarded.
Pok�mon that use stat-ups are generally your sweepers. Porygon2, Curselax and company should all start statting up mid to late game when they're likely to finish off psuedohazers that have been weakened by constant switching and taking hits. They're also your failsafe, in case things have gone terribly wrong. A Curselax saved up to the end is a very potent way of turning a 6-1 into a 1-0, if your opponent lets you pull it off, or gets really unlucky. ALWAYS pay attention to which Pok�mon you are KOing, and how that is changing your opponent's switches. Often, just to save a psuedohazer or Heal Beller, people will sacrifice a sweeper or staller; this will change their team's dynamics heavily, and you'll have to re-evaluate your opponent.
If your opponent is sacrificing Pok�mon after Pok�mon just to send in Curselax/Cursegon2 all the way at the end, and all you've got is Skarmory, you're doing something wrong. An understanding of your opponent's team and its dynamics is what is key to winning battles.
All in all, after you've gone through the preliminary stages of judging your opponent's team, expect them to take the safe route, and don't be afraid to lose a Pok�mon or two in the process of prediction.
A lot of the time, of course, you'll face teams that follow a theme - stall or baton pass come to mind. These are the teams you should familiarize yourself with, and always have counters for. Mix up your game when you face a stall team; start predicting right away. A lot of the times, teams are built so that if one Pok�mon falls, it leaves a huge weakness for versatile Pok�mon like Nidoking or "Mixlax" (DE/EQ/FB/Rest, which is, in my opinion, superior to predictable Curselax).
Of course, prediction isn't something you'd learn in a guide; it's just not that simple. Every battle is unique, and as such, you'll only begin to grasp the principles of battle one way - experience. Over time, you'll learn basic Pok�mon categories that mostly every team carries (i.e. a defensive water, a special wall, etc..). Go out and battle; learn from your mistakes. Learn from people that are better than you - there's always someone better than you.
Baton Pass Teams
In this section I will explain some common Baton Passing pokemon and how to deal with them.
Umbreon
The most common Baton Passer is probably the Mean Look Umbreon. Once he traps something of yours, you better hope it can PsuedoHaze. Umbreon can use a variety of moves such as Curse, Growth and Charm. Once he Baton Passes he can Baton Pass these stat ups and the next pokemon can set up for the sweep. If you see an Umbreon your best counter is going to be any PsuedoHazer or Machamp. Heracross is not a very good counter because of the common Charming Umbreon.
Jolteon
With 358 speed, he can psuedopass as soon as his counter is in. Sometimes it is just a Substitute, other times it is an agility. He works very well with Marowak regardless of what he is passing. If you send in a Rhydon against Jolteon do NOT try to attack. You must Roar immediately. If he Baton Passes immediately then you could be in a bit of trouble because Marowak will put a huge dent in anything (unless you have Skarmory.)
There are other Baton Passers but these are the 2 most common. There really is not much strategy to stopping them. The best advice is to predict when they will be switched in so you can switch in a counter at the same time. This will prevent constant PsuedoHazing and you can actually get some attacks in.
Stall Teams
Stall teams usually consist of Spikes, Toxic, PsuedoHazing and Leech Seed. They just annoy you to no end. They usually have several walls such as Steelix, Skarmory, Suicune, Blissey, Snorlax and so on. They usually throw some spikes and poison as many pokemon as possible and leech seed. This causes you to lose small amounts of life due to insane amounts of switching. They also like to Roar over and over and over to make you get hurt repetitively.
Here are some good counters to stall teams:
Gengar
He is a poison so he is immune to Toxic. He gets moves that can put a huge dent in any psuedohazer, he can explode, he can Destiny Bond. He is very versatile. Something I would recommend would be Perish Trapping. Toxic will not stop him from Perish Trapping. Here is a recommended set: Mean Look, Perish Song, Protect, Ice Punch/TBolt/Giga Drain/Hypnosis/Explosion/Destiny Bond (If only you could have nine moves on a pokemon!)
Forretress
He can blow away spikes, set his own spikes and explode.
Snorlax
Double-Edge, EQ, Fire Blast, Selfdestruct. No stalling pokemon are particularly safe against this moveset.
Attraction and Female Pok�mon
In GSC genders were introduced to the pokemon metagame. Attraction can be a very deadly move against your team if you are not properly prepared. In order to counter Attraction you should be making all of your special based pokemon females. You may change any pokemon into a female by lowering the Attack DV to any number less than 7. Another way to counter is by using genderless pokemon, or pokemon that are automatically females such as Blissey, Miltank, and Kangaskhan.
Closing Thoughts
Now you have been very well informed of what to expect in GSC and how to deal with it. It really is not as boring as everybody makes it out to be. GSC requires a lot of skill and can be fun if you know what you are doing.
The Beginner's Guide to GSC
Team Building
In this first section you will learn how to build a successful GSC team.
I will begin by listing some of the most common threats in GSC so you will know what you have to counter when building your team:
Snorlax (Curser)
Blissey (Heal Beller/Special Wall)
Skarmory (PsuedoHazer/Physical Wall)
Suicune (PsuedoHazer/Bulky Water)
Forretress (Spiker)
Zapdos (RestTalker)
Marowak (Thick Club)
Tyranitar (Awesome Movepool with great stats)
Misdreavus (Perishtrapper)
Starmie (Special sweeper with Recover and good moves)
While you will definitely be seeing more pokemon than just that, they cover the various things that you will be needing to counter in your team. If your team cannot counter a curselax, you have already failed. I am not going to go into huge detail with movesets in this guide. You will have to do your research if you want to understand more in depth details.
Now we will start making a generic GSC team.
Lead: Forretress @ Leftovers
Spikes
Rapid Spin
Explosion
Reflect/Bug Hidden Power
This is a pretty simple pokemon. He has a 4x weakness against fire moves so be careful. Basically you just lay down Spikes and set up a Reflect to help your team. If they lay spikes, you can blow them away. If a specific pokemon is giving you trouble you might be able to explode on it. Bug Power is there if you need to attack with your Forretress (but you probably will not need to.)
Blissey @ Leftovers
Heal Bell
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Softboiled
This is the standard Heal Bell set. Nothing resists both Ice Beam and Thunderbolt.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Thunderbolt/Thunder
Water Hidden Power/Drill Peck
Rest
Sleep Talk
This is pretty much only countered by Blissey if you use the Hidden Power set. It eats the opponents Sleep attack and uses Sleep Talk. Thunder can even put a huge dent in Snorlax. Nothing is really safe against Zapdos.
At the half way point you can tell that you will be having issues against Snorlax, Tyranitar, Misdreavus, and Blissey.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Surf
Roar
Ice Beam/Mirror Coat
Rest
Suicune is a defensive beast. He can absorb physical and special attacks. Mirror Coat can be effective against Zapdos. I prefer Ice Beam because you can actually put a dent in Zapdos with it and hurt Grass types. The rest is self explanatory. He roars away pokemon that are trying to set up. But if a Jolteon is trying to set up for a Marowak then you are going to have issues.
Rhydon @ Leftovers
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Roar
Rest
This is your back up psuedo-hazer. He provides immunity to the electric problems Suicune has. He can also pack a powerful hit with Earthquake and Rock Slide.
Snorlax @ Leftovers
Curse
Double-Edge/Body Slam
Earthquake
Rest
This is pretty much the best pokemon in the game. After one Curse, Double-Edge can do a hard hit to almost everything. Sometimes Body Slam can be more useful if you are facing another Curselax head on. You could get lucky with a few timely FP's. It is up to you really.
Now you have a complete team and you have countered the main threats that I first mentioned. The next step in learning how to battle is the art of predicting. This will be explained in the next section.
Predicting
A good, solid team whose members don't depend on each other but instead co-operate with each other is fundamental to GSC. Its probably the only era where the borderline underused Pok�mon can generally fit in to a lot of standard teams (Electabuzz, Kangaskhan, etc.).
The key to GSC, however is predicting - if you don't predict, and, god forbid, your opponent doesn't predict, you end up with 150 turn games that'll bore the hell out of you. You have to pay attention to your opponent - take note of every one of his pokemon and their movesets.
When you begin a battle with someone, assume the worst - that is, your opponent is running a full-frontal standard team with Snorlax, Blissey, Suicune and company, and they know how to use them. It's important to have counters to these standard pokemon, as mentioned in the previous section.
The most important part of prediction in most teams is versatility. A pokemon that can do damage to most of its common counters is a very, very important asset. Likewise, a Pok�mon that can switch in to a variety of moves is a huge asset (which is why Skarmory and Blissey are such huge assets, both individually and together).
The other half involves actually using the Pok�mon correctly. Let's go over a simple scenario.
Let's say you open with a Nidoking with Lovely Kiss/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Earthquake, and your opponent starts out with a Jolteon. Nidoking is a VERY versatile Pok�mon - it can put a dent in most anything that switches in to it. Knowing Jolteon is more than likely going to switch out, do you Lovely Kiss?
No. It's more than likely your opponent predicts Nidoking is going to Lovely Kiss, and is switching in a nasty Sleep Talker that'll cause you to switch, wasting a turn. Instead, you should opt to fish out your opponent by outpredicting him. Earthquake for safety, or Ice Beam if you're feeling adventerous. Just don't do the most obvious thing. (You wouldn't believe how many times a sleep talking Raikou switches into Lovely Kiss Nidoking, only to get Earthquaked).
Now, let's say it was your Jolteon in that situation, and your opponent was the Nidoking. What should you have done?
The answer is painfully simple. You don't switch in something with a gaping weakness to Nidoking - definitely not Raikou. Opt to be safe - you don't know how skilled your opponent is yet. Send in your "bulky water" or whatever; if Nidoking Lovely Kisses, that's fine, you can Heal Bell it off later. Draw your opponent out; watch for what he is doing.
For the first bit of the game, offensive attacks will mostly be a bust for both parties; you'll be switching in counters without much prediction and you'll both become accustomed to each others team - just don't do anything ridiculously dumb (ie, against a Nidoking, don't send in Jumpluff!). After a few turns and pointless exchange of attacks, you'll begin to get a feel for your opponent's team and playing style.
This is when you've got to start predicting. There isn't like an exact point in the game where you should start predicting, but it's best to draw first blood. When you are the first to predict, you are literally one move ahead of your opponent. Start predicting your opponent's switches and counter them with your own swithces. Be aggressive - don't be afraid to lose a Pok�mon or two in the process of predicting, if you feel your opponent is a gambler, too - most of the time, attacks won't OHKO you; this isn't Advance.
The person who is being more offensive will more than likely win. GSC, although famed to be the stalling era, is not always as slow as people claim. The game is only as slow as you make it; take risks and predict; you'll be rewarded.
Pok�mon that use stat-ups are generally your sweepers. Porygon2, Curselax and company should all start statting up mid to late game when they're likely to finish off psuedohazers that have been weakened by constant switching and taking hits. They're also your failsafe, in case things have gone terribly wrong. A Curselax saved up to the end is a very potent way of turning a 6-1 into a 1-0, if your opponent lets you pull it off, or gets really unlucky. ALWAYS pay attention to which Pok�mon you are KOing, and how that is changing your opponent's switches. Often, just to save a psuedohazer or Heal Beller, people will sacrifice a sweeper or staller; this will change their team's dynamics heavily, and you'll have to re-evaluate your opponent.
If your opponent is sacrificing Pok�mon after Pok�mon just to send in Curselax/Cursegon2 all the way at the end, and all you've got is Skarmory, you're doing something wrong. An understanding of your opponent's team and its dynamics is what is key to winning battles.
All in all, after you've gone through the preliminary stages of judging your opponent's team, expect them to take the safe route, and don't be afraid to lose a Pok�mon or two in the process of prediction.
A lot of the time, of course, you'll face teams that follow a theme - stall or baton pass come to mind. These are the teams you should familiarize yourself with, and always have counters for. Mix up your game when you face a stall team; start predicting right away. A lot of the times, teams are built so that if one Pok�mon falls, it leaves a huge weakness for versatile Pok�mon like Nidoking or "Mixlax" (DE/EQ/FB/Rest, which is, in my opinion, superior to predictable Curselax).
Of course, prediction isn't something you'd learn in a guide; it's just not that simple. Every battle is unique, and as such, you'll only begin to grasp the principles of battle one way - experience. Over time, you'll learn basic Pok�mon categories that mostly every team carries (i.e. a defensive water, a special wall, etc..). Go out and battle; learn from your mistakes. Learn from people that are better than you - there's always someone better than you.
Baton Pass Teams
In this section I will explain some common Baton Passing pokemon and how to deal with them.
Umbreon
The most common Baton Passer is probably the Mean Look Umbreon. Once he traps something of yours, you better hope it can PsuedoHaze. Umbreon can use a variety of moves such as Curse, Growth and Charm. Once he Baton Passes he can Baton Pass these stat ups and the next pokemon can set up for the sweep. If you see an Umbreon your best counter is going to be any PsuedoHazer or Machamp. Heracross is not a very good counter because of the common Charming Umbreon.
Jolteon
With 358 speed, he can psuedopass as soon as his counter is in. Sometimes it is just a Substitute, other times it is an agility. He works very well with Marowak regardless of what he is passing. If you send in a Rhydon against Jolteon do NOT try to attack. You must Roar immediately. If he Baton Passes immediately then you could be in a bit of trouble because Marowak will put a huge dent in anything (unless you have Skarmory.)
There are other Baton Passers but these are the 2 most common. There really is not much strategy to stopping them. The best advice is to predict when they will be switched in so you can switch in a counter at the same time. This will prevent constant PsuedoHazing and you can actually get some attacks in.
Stall Teams
Stall teams usually consist of Spikes, Toxic, PsuedoHazing and Leech Seed. They just annoy you to no end. They usually have several walls such as Steelix, Skarmory, Suicune, Blissey, Snorlax and so on. They usually throw some spikes and poison as many pokemon as possible and leech seed. This causes you to lose small amounts of life due to insane amounts of switching. They also like to Roar over and over and over to make you get hurt repetitively.
Here are some good counters to stall teams:
Gengar
He is a poison so he is immune to Toxic. He gets moves that can put a huge dent in any psuedohazer, he can explode, he can Destiny Bond. He is very versatile. Something I would recommend would be Perish Trapping. Toxic will not stop him from Perish Trapping. Here is a recommended set: Mean Look, Perish Song, Protect, Ice Punch/TBolt/Giga Drain/Hypnosis/Explosion/Destiny Bond (If only you could have nine moves on a pokemon!)
Forretress
He can blow away spikes, set his own spikes and explode.
Snorlax
Double-Edge, EQ, Fire Blast, Selfdestruct. No stalling pokemon are particularly safe against this moveset.
Attraction and Female Pok�mon
In GSC genders were introduced to the pokemon metagame. Attraction can be a very deadly move against your team if you are not properly prepared. In order to counter Attraction you should be making all of your special based pokemon females. You may change any pokemon into a female by lowering the Attack DV to any number less than 7. Another way to counter is by using genderless pokemon, or pokemon that are automatically females such as Blissey, Miltank, and Kangaskhan.
Closing Thoughts
Now you have been very well informed of what to expect in GSC and how to deal with it. It really is not as boring as everybody makes it out to be. GSC requires a lot of skill and can be fun if you know what you are doing.
