Competitive Pokemon has a tier ranking system that can look complicated from the outside, thanks to its use of strange, seemingly incomprehensible letter denotations, but it's really just the typical S, A+, A, B, et cetera tier system you’d find in any game with a range of differently powered characters. Genshin Impact, for example, or Apex Legends. I know that it's complex to an outsider but simple to understand once you have experience, because this week I played my first ever tournament of competitive Pokemon – I even wrote about how picking the team is way better than actually using it. Having the vast, vast experience of a week-long career, I have come to the conclusion that bad Pokemon are better than good Pokemon.
I should explain that when I say 'tournament', I don't mean an official contest with prize money, but a smackdown between other staff at TheGamer, most of whom, like me, had never played competitively before, alongside a small handful who had. As I bragged about- sorry, mentioned at the time, I placed second, by virtue of avoiding anyone with any experience until the final, where I got my Butterfree handed to me by a Dragonite that swept my entire team. This is where I had my epiphany about bad Pokemon.
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In our tournament, we used OU Pokemon, which are basically the best Pokemon once you take out all the broken ones that make battling not fun. This meant I ended up using a lot of Pokemon I was unfamiliar with, which offers some nice variation, but it also means that I'm in a format I don't know, using Pokemon I don't know, putting them in roles I don't know, all up against someone who knows every inch of their team backwards and forwards. You can see now how that Dragonite was able to best me. But just like how playing the same six teams in FIFA over and over again gets boring – PSG are officially banned in FIFA 22 – dropping down the Pokemon ranks offers far more variation.
After testing, building, and ultimately failing with my OU team, I dropped down to PU, which is basically D rank. The no-hopers. Down here, there's a lot more variety. Not only do I get to actually use Tsareena, one of the most disrespected Pokemon of all time, but there is a S.S. Anne-load of great 'mons that never even get a chance in the main games to be the star of the show, never mind at a competitive level. I realise I'm giving away my strategy for the inevitable Pokemon PU tournament rematch, but PU has Weezing, Claydol, Ribombee, Aromatisse, Froslass, Passimian, Lanturn, and Appletun to choose from, and that's just for starters – it also has Charizard, an actual Starter. There's far more variety in terms of Pokemon build, typings, move diversity, and strategy. There's less of an established meta to know, and so a lack of top level experience doesn't leave you at such a disadvantage. Plus, you get to run Tsareena.
I'm sure in a couple of weeks the best competitive battlers at the site will have figured out PU, and I'll be writing a third article crying about being swept by Absol. But for now, dipping my toe in competitive Pokemon has been a (focus) blast. Just like the best Pokemon games do though, all it's done is remind me that every Pokemon is great in its own way – even the bad ones.
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