Thread question: what is your favorite evolutionary like to use in runs?

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>>58347163
The Dev even added healing your pokemon of status specifically before a battle just to stop guts or other abilities from being utilized. Its insane how much is fucked with to assure you're not able to get an advantage despite the AI getting optimized teams and items.

Every fucking NPC now requires consideration at this point. And I'm about to fight Benga, look at this fucker's team:

>>58348941
The tried and true Gyarados, it’s always fun to use rare shit too though, I managed to get a Scizor in my full Heartgold ‘locke
>>58349414
>You can’t use Guts
>He can
wew

>>58349414
I understand this is a difficulty hack, but why go to so much effort to limit what the player can do instead of just balancing things?

I know people love to complain about the level curve in Johto, but the mid-game level curve is pretty bad in Sinnoh too. 30, 30, 36, with nothing really between the three gyms. The only required fights outside of the gyms are a Barry fight, where he has two Pokémon past their evolution levels, and two weak Galactic grunts. It makes playing with level caps so hard.

Going off that, beat Wake with no issues. Raichu OHKOs Gyarados, free switch into Carvine, leading to a switch to Prinplup to eat the Ice Fang and use Charm. Then back to Raichu for another OHKO. Just did the stuff in Celestic and now just grinding to get the team up to Fantina’s levels. Not 100% what the final team will be against her, but probably running Raichu, Girafarig, Murkrow, and Skuntank for sure. Resistances and SE moves from all of them, and a Volt Switch pivot.

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Randomizer Random Ability Volt White 2 Redux anon here back. Gotta say, the run is going so fucking good.

Benga was a huge hassle with his set uppers but I was able to make it through. Technician Flareon deleted Metagross and Garchomp with flame charge and Fairy Covet. Then baited Emboar's earthquake as I switched to Wonder Guard Vespiquen. Then switched to Milotic to tank the V-create and kill back with surf. Then I switched in Muk to take Gyarados' power whip and wittle him down with poison jabs. I hit Volcarona with 1 mud slap then just kept poison jabbing. Despite it quiver dancing it missed all its fiery dances. Then I just switched to Wonder Guard Vespiquen to kill Conkeldurr.

Along the way we got some interesting mon
Poison Heal Vibrava
Regenerator Galvantula
Dry Skin Ponyta
Regenerator Registeel
Air Lock Genesect
Serene Grace Ursaluna
Magic Guard Zweilous
Toxic Boost Hitmontop
Compound Eyes Palkia

However Hitmontop did make it. A Darmanitan 5 levels below it OHKO it with flare blitz.

Needless to say, with Speed EVs, Palkia and Flygon and Palkia obliterated Drayen's double battle gym fight. Only issue was his sceptile having a sash. After it got a dragon claw off on flygon I just switched to vespiquen while Palkia finished the job.

I've got some really great mon, but the real challenge is still ahead in victory road with the weather warrior teams, so I can't get too cocky.

ONWARD TO TEAM PLASMA!

someone redpill me on vorefag

>>58351645
Probably just a mentally ill schizo that felt slighted by some Cynthia fan, same story beats as most of the schizos on the site. He doesn't come in here very often so i don't care to learn his story.

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finally done with my LeafGreen grinding after 3000 years in the mines, just need to take out the E4 now

>>58352515
>he yearns for the mines

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>>58352515
Back to back posting but I only had the league left and at this point I couldn't really wait.

Lorelei:
>Cipher absolutely wrecked her, took out the first 4 Pokemon by itself and then Bin Laden killed off Jynx, not much else to say

Bruno:
>Another easy fight, put Showtime in the lead and he swept the entire team

Agatha:
>Bin Laden smacks Gengar, Cipher takes out Golbat
>Pivot to Showtime on the Haunter, outspeed and kill, take out Arbok as well with Psychic
>Bin Laden takes out her ace Gengar after tanking Sludge Bomb, another win in the books

Lance:
>The only fight I was worried about a little bit, but I did have Cipher. Swapped Showtime's Psychic for Ice Beam
>Cipher leads, kills Gyara and takes another Dragonair out while it's locked into outrage.
-The next Dragonair is a pain in the ass with T-Wave and I can't do a ton of damage with just Cipher so I pivot to Showtime and stall it out in Outrage mode until it gets confused and hits itself, drop it with Ice Beam
>Ice Beam takes out his Dragonite next and Cipher finishes off his Aero, onto Blue!

Blue:
>Cipher leads off well and smacks Pidgeot, then Charizard comes out
>I go to Showtime and tank Fire Blast, I surf when I should have really fished for the miss, it barely lives but thankfully no crit, he burns a full restore and actually switches out to Gyarados with my Showtime on 12HP
>I decide to go to Cipher because Showtime can outspeed Zard later, and Zard is the only real threat left, Cipher tanks it and drops his Gary
>Zard comes back, I go to Gia. Her SpDef is shit and if I have to sac her, I'll sac her, but Zard misses Fire Blast, he Full Restores and I kill it with Rock Slide
>Buddy takes out Rhydon, Bin Laden takes out Alakazam and Jill takes out Exeggutor, wasn't planning on it but ironically every member of the team contributed

And that's it ,the Nuzlocke I started 7 years ago has been resurrected and finished. Might start another one on White after this lel

>>58353179
congrats dude! have fun with white if you decide to run it. I completed a run about a month or so ago and it's truly a great game.

>>58353179
Congrats! I concur with the other anon, White should be an enjoyable experience, but also more difficult, especially in the early game.

>>58351324
It's because they changed around the mid-game and levels in Platinum, having you fight Fantina as your third gym then Wake. They also lowered the Elite 4 levels

>>58354657
>fight Fantina as your third gym then Wake
*then Maylene, oops

>>58354657
Never realized that. Never played Platinum, as that was during the period I wasn’t really playing the games. Came back for HG/SS.

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>>58353920
>>58354597
Appreciate it lads, went ahead and started White, fun fact, I only ever once played this game on release, making it 14 years since I have played BW1, as I usually go for BW2 to replay Unova.

Anyways I went ahead and started White with a Hardcore Nuzlocke, plus an extra challenge which I came up with and posted in the last thread. Basically, every mon except your starter has a 'lifespan level' that you have to kill them off when they hit it. It's crazy but I've never been so excited to play mons in years. More details on the ruleset are in picrel

>Start the game, I usually pick Oshawott but I go with Tepig and nickname him Hambo, he makes quick work of Cheren and Bianca and various cutscenes ensue.
>Go off to Route 1, first encounter is thankfully Lillipup instead of Patrat, I catch Milady at Lv. 4, her Lifespan rolls to 36 so she may at least get to become a Stoutland one day.
>Ghetsis gives his speech, we kill N's Purrloin which I forgot was Lv. 7 and should have grinded for, thankfully no crits and everyone lives.
>Off to Route 2, we catch Vittorio at Lv. 5, rolls a Lifespan to Lv. 28, not bad, wish I could say the same about Purrloin as a Pokemon.
>I realize BW early game is pain so I have a rough strategy for the leaders, basically lead Milady and get pressure, chip the Leader's monke and then send in my own to finish the job, should be doable
>Anyways we beat Bianca easily, go to Striaton and collect some free EXP from Cheren as well, they don't make rivals like they used to
>Go to the Dreamyard, collect my Grass Monke, aptly nicknamed Monke aaaand
>LIFESPAN 11
>YEP, I actually min rolled it, can't even make this shit up. As soon as this Pokemon levels up, it dies, so I must bring it to the first gym at Lv. 10.
>Big chance I am fucked. I think most other games have enough of a failsafe for stuff like this, I would dare say lowrolling your Monke might be the single most consequential roll in any game for this challenge.
>fuck it we ball

>>58355704
Yeah, the early game of BW in rougher in a Nuzlocke than you would expect, especially if you don't get the elemental monkey. Lenora is also not fun unless you chose Tepig to keep Retaliate from smacking you down.

Bump.

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>>58356357
Yeah, I was actually looking forward to the challenge but I didn't expect to have an underleveled Monke, it's wild how little outplay room there is compared to other games. I'm completely ready to be fucked by Lenora

Anyways, update on the run
>Autistically grind everyone except Monke to Lv. 14 for Cress, coming as correct as I can
>Mull over a couple different strategies for wtf I'm going to do, eventually settle on leading Milady to keep as much momentum as possible and prevent his Lillipup ffrom doing anything
>I manage to 2hko Lillipup after it Works Up, I go into Panpour unscathed, moment of truth
>Do a little over 1/3 of the damage with Tackle, he Water Guns and I tank it well, another Water Gun and we're both in yellow, my Oran Berry activates and I'm back up.
>He Potions and I Tackle
>He guns and I Tackle to knock it out, easy money

For all the stressing and autistic preparation I was doing, it went as well as it could have

>Off to Route 3, do some battles vs Cheren, Plasma and trainers, Hambo and Milady evolve!
>Skip my Wellspring encounter for now
>I decide to use Repel Manipulation like a pro gamer to guarantee a Pidove or Blitzle as Vittorio as Lv 10 at the time and they can spawn up to Lv. 11, anyways naturally I hit a Rustling tile on accident as I'm running and my actual encounter ends up being Audino
>Welcome to the team Chungus, on the bright side I rolled his Lifespan at 50

Do you guys treat Pinwheel Forest outer/inner as 1 area or 2? I'm generally a purist and don't use rules that would help me but they're 2 completely separate encounter tables that contain many unique Pokemon.

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Gonna be a few updates in a row, been playing quite a bit since last time.
>VS Gordie
>Barbaracle
Barbaracle Shell Smashes, Which allows a Dynamaxed Maude to oneshot with Max Knuckle, which combined with Moxie puts her at +2 Atk.
>Stonjourner
It uses Wonder Room, allowing another Max Knuckle KO.
>Shuckle
A third Max Knuckle puts it into the red, and the Shuckle uses Power Split. I was playing fairly late and was tired, so I somehow makes the stupid decision of swapping out in response.
I swap in Billy Dane, who gets Rock Tombed before taking Shuckle out with Water Pledge.
Billy Dane and Maude reach level 42.
>Gigantamax Coalossal
Certain of a KO thanks to Water STAB, 4x Effectiveness and Mystic, I have Billy use Water Pledge. To my surprise, Coalossal lives and uses G-Max Volcalith. Billy survives the hit, but the passive damage from the G-Max move takes him out.
Maude comes back in, takes a Max Flare, and finishes the fight with Brick Break.

I realize after this match that I should probably ban Brick Break. It is technically not a punch move(doesn't activate Iron Fist), but it is so close I honestly shouldn't use it due to the spirit of the challenge I'm doing.

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>>58358107
>VS Piers
>Scrafty (Intimidate)
Tia Trop Kicks Scrafty, who Sand Attacks in response.
She sets up Light Screen, taking a Payback.
Next she sets up Reflect, but Scracfty crushes both screens with Brick Break, which I somehow forgot despite having it on my own Scrafty before.
I send in Candyfloss on a Sand Attack.
Moonblast Misses and Scrafty gets a second Sand Attack in before another Moonblast gets it.
Candyfloss levels to 47 and Tia levels to 46.
>Malamar
I swap Dad in for free on Psycho Cut.
Dad Nasty Plots and then Baton Passes, taking a Night Slash inbetween.
Candyfloss receives the pass, shrugging off the Night Slash.
Moonblast takes out Malamar.
>Obstagoon
The first Moonblast gets Obstructed, the second oneshots. Candyfloss levels up to 48.
>Skuntank
Moonblast OHKOs.

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>>58358113
>Vs Raihan
>Gigalith(Sand Stream) and Flygon
Flygon hits both my mons with Breaking Swipe, lowering their Attack. Doesn't save it from Tia's Triple Axel, which takes Flygon out in one round.
Maude uses Max Knuckle, doing about half to Gigalith and buffing both my mons back to standard attack. Gigalith puts up Stealth Rock.
>Gigalith and Sandaconda
Tia hits Sandaconda with Trop Kick, but it lives and Glares at her in return. Gigalith falls to another Max Knuckle.
>Gigantamax Duraludon and Sandaconda
I switch in Uncle Sam in place of Tia. Duraludon and Maude exchange Max Knuckles, and Sandaconda uses Protect.
I switch Maude for Candyfloss, who shrugs off the Max Knuckle. Sandaconda hits Uncle Sam with Earth Power, and Uncle Sam brings Duraludon crashing down with Revenge.
Giga Drain finishes off Sandaconda.

In retrospect, I ought to have banned Max Knuckle from this run for more than one reason. First, it is way too strong and trivialized most of my gym fights, and to be fair, I knew it was strong, I just assumed with a more limited system, it might be alright(it wasn't).
Second, even if I used it with non-punching fighting moves(the reason I allowed it in the first place), the move itself is Max Knuckle. It probably is against the spirit of the run when I think about it. So from now on, I'm banning it. Since Maude is the mon that has been using both of the questionable moves(Brick Break and Max Knuckle), I also will give her a Red Card for the matches vs Nessa, Bea and Raihan in the Champion Cup.

>>58358125
Forgot to add the two last catches on the Raihan pic despite putting them on Piers. Whoops.

>>58358125
Cool ruleset, I take it grinding is generally pretty easy in Galar? RIP to Billy though, always hurts when you lose your starter, especially midgame.

>>58358344
The reason I level so many mons is the combination of:
A. Forced Exp Share.
B. Catch Exp. Nuzlockes keep this down a fair bit, thankfully.
C. The DLC forces the Exp Charm onto you if you want to access the move tutor, and the Exp Charm massively increases Exp gained. And you can't turn that one off either.
Without the Exp Charm, and if you play through the game without catching everything(Nuzlockes catch less), levels are mostly reasonable and Leon will have a chunky level advantage on you if you do not grind.
Scarlet and Violet also forces the Exp Charm onto you if you actually want to use the DLC much.

Grinding multiple 5% drops so I have a chance against Lenora, fuck my chud life
>>58358395
Makes sense, 8 is the only gen I skipped and difficulty in 9 is mostly a non-factor until the dlc so I was curious where it was at in terms of challenge. Being able to have a B team ready to go is nice though, I definitely understand infinite candy users in past gens more with each level I grind.

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Busy with work the last couple of weeks, so only just got round to getting back on the grind here.

Sacred Gold going really smoothly. Morty didn't really pose much of a problem at all, and it gave me a chance to utilise Arbok and Raticate rather than someone a touch more important.

Shed Skin a blessing, means AHHHHHHH could shake off the burn from Duskull and then sweep through to Gengar, with good ol' Beef coming in to clean up.

Nothing else to really talk about. Almost had a couple of grinding mishaps in the buildup to Morty, but genereally speaking I've been pretty careful outside of those main battles.

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Update with the aftermath of Lenora. I was hearing final boss music going into this. Quick recap of what happened beforehand and my prep:

>Decided to split up the Pinwheel Outer/Inner encounters, ended up getting Herz the Pidove for Outer Pinwheel, Lifespan Roll of 25. Sadly he can't evolve until after Lenora because of caps.
>I'm not loving my team for Lenora so I decide to risk the 50/50 in Wellspring for Roggenrolla, naturally I get Scuff the Woobat, Lifespan of 18 :D
>In hindsight, I really regret not going for the guaranteed Drilbur here but live and learn, I was thinking that Lenora was such a threat that I should do anything that would help me 'win now'.
>Scuff was actually a great help in grinding, spent all day going for Thief drops with her, first Throh's 5% Black Belt and secondly Audino's 5% Sitrus Berry, got one of each and finished grinding.

Now for the battle
>General strat I settled on was similar to Gym 1, send out Black Belt equipped Hambo to 1v1 Herdier and then immediately sac Scuff and beat Watchog on sheer numbers
>Chungus was lucky enough to have Regenerator ability, so I give it the Sitrus Berry, now I can switch back and forth between Milady and Chungus to farm Intimidate/Regen and weaken it. Vittorio also brings Torment and Sand Attack to the mix
>First turn of the battle goes well, Hambo hits 2 Arm Thrusts to put Herdier in 2HKO range, it misses Take Down and I drop it the next turn.
>I decide to sac scuff to Retaliate because she dies next level, Watchog uses Hypnosis and misses
>I then activate my strategy with Intimidate and Chungus's Regen, I manage to have Vittorio get a Torment off even though he nearly dies to crit Retaliate. Chungus tanks the fuck out of it and spams Attract and Growl to neuter Watchog
>Herz can now stall it out with Roost and I end up killing it, GG

Deathless Cress, Deathless Lenora. This run is so rough with how BW's progression is designed but goddamn I have never felt so alive playing Pokemon.

>>58359307
Audino is real good, happy you got a long lifespan on that one.

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Littlemon team #33 to beat Alpha Sapphire's E4 + Champ. Deathless & reliable strat. No bag items, usual restrictions, level cap etc.

I took a break from the challenge because it started to feel like a chore and not fun at all. I read the last thread and I'm not sure what happened. I hope Connor is okay. We are your anon friends and who knows wtf will happen irl the next day?

I continued from where I stopped with this team. Still felt like a chore, but I was obsessed and determined to finish with this team. These Pokemon are great, don't get me wrong, but this team as a whole is not. I just wanted to get it over with.
The reliable winning strat is kinda convoluted so I won't go into detail.
Anorith is the MVP with 18 KOs. Cyndaquil is such a cool Pokemon, I love it. Bunnelby is a great support. Froakie was supposed to be a sweeper, but ended up being a support.

>dwebble beats sidney
>anorith beats phoebe
>power of friendship and cyndaquil beats glacia
>power of friendship and anorith beats drake
>setups and anorith beats steven

I'm gonna do a fun team next. I'm glad this ordeal is over.

>>58359307
>goddamn I have never felt so alive playing Pokemon.
Nice. I like the run.
>>58358579
>Shed Skin a blessing
I fully agree. What's next?

>>58359307
Audino is great. Bulky, and has decent healing with Regenerator, and access to both T-Wave and Toxic, though not sure if those are post-game or not.

>>58360042
>Regenerator
NTA but I've never seen a Regenerator Audino in gen 5, and I had to reset after wiping a LOT

>>58359434
>>58360042
Yeah it’s been incredible so far which is hilarious because I only got it on accident. I’m doing a lot of learning on the job since I haven’t played this game in over a decade
>>58359514
Thanks, that’s a pretty crazy ruleset you’ve got there too, very impressive to not only beat the game with those restrictions but with little cup mons as well

>>58360042
T-Wave is buyable in Nimbasa, and Toxic is on Route 17(which requires Surf, meaning late but not post-game)

>>58358579
IIRC Drayano's Jobto hacks are much easier than his others, to the point he was working on a V2 of them, so I'm not so surprised. Still, great work!

>>58359307
Good work on taking Lenora down deathless! The encounters are just about to open up, Burgh shouldn't be too bad to deal with, then you have the best routes in the game to get something from. Cross those fingers they live a long time.

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Continuing with Blaze Black2 Redux HC Nuzlocke in Normal mode. Completed first visit of Plasma Frigate and about to head to Route 6 and Mistralton City.
Pic related is current box. Top and mid are what I have. Last panel is death box.
Octillery - Burgh
Audino and Venomoth - Lenora at Nimbasa City
Simisear and Emolga - Heartbreaker Charles
Jumpluff - Clay
The battles are extremely tough even with calculator as the AI most of the times prefers not to attack even if it sees instakill.
AphexCubed, the guy behind this romhack, removes anything that can be somewhat "abused" by the player but not the enemy team. As a player, I don't get good TMs, berries, held items, movesets, etc. but the enemy team has all of those.
Let's see how far can I get. If I fail, I will return to either monotype or gift only or normal playthrough of the game but never nuzlocke.

>>58362840
Doesn't sound fair at all. But then again it's a good feeling when you "fuck you game take that"

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Double gym update!

>Head to Pinwheel, decide to skip the encounter for now, Herz evolves into Tranquill.
>Catch a pretty lame Darumaka "Chie" on Route 4 with a Lifespan of 30, time travel to a Gamestop in 2012 so I can get a Zorua "Xande" in Castelia unfortunately I roll a 15 on him
>Not much prep required for Burgh, I have access to Rest + Chesto now so Hambo and Herz pretty much carry the fight by themselves, finally an easy badge
>Not much to write home about with the rival battles, I fuck up a repel manip by running through the expiry message in the Desert Resort [would have been either Sandile or Dwebble], but we get Oaxaca the Maractus with Lifespan 44. They say everything happens for a reason...
>Decide to do the coinflip in Relic Castle, praying for a Sandile aaand
>Perchta the Sandile, Lifespan 46 FINALLY SOME GOOD FUCKING FOOD
>Pick the Plume Fossil and go to Nimbasa to get the bike to unlock the dark grass in Inner Pinwheel. I roll Tommen the Archen [Lifespan 33] and Juno the Petilil in Pinwheel, Lifespan 42, we'll take those.

>Get Chiara the Liepard in Route 16 [LS33] and time travel to Gamestop again to go get Zoroark, I catch Rangda and sadly roll a Lifespan 32 on her but at least I can use her for 2 gyms.
>Battle vs Elesa has me lead Zoroark to trick the AI and prevent volt switch, I 2HKO the first Emolga and go to Perchta [an Eviolite Sandile at this point] to take out the second, I live at about half health
>I attempt to stall the Zebstrika a bit with Milady but I get CRIT and live on 4HP, now here I fuck up and T-Wave it, forgetting about Lightningrod [Ironically I had prepared hard for the Emolga's static] and now it's +1 SpAtk
>I do some maneuvering to get Light Screen up but ultimately have to sac Vittorio, Hambo finishes it off
>Get some more friends, Prada the Liepard [45], Swin the Ducklett [24, ouch], Noel the Vanillite [39] and finally Excel the Karrablast, minrolled that one with a Lifespan of 27, not gonna lie that really stung.

Which mainline games are the best and worst for novices?
I tried a white 2 nuzlocke on a whim, but it wasn't a great experience

>>58363164
Anyways I'm starting to begin to think about endgame. Perchta is a fantastic encounter but the odds to get some really good ones are against me in all honesty, kind of wishing I threw myself a bone but I'll find a solution somehow. One thing I can do is use the BW EXP System in tandem with the Lucky Egg and 'Lifespan Stasis Clause' at the E4 in my favor, but that means extra maneuvering on my part. I'm not allowing the use of legends though so Zekrom is off the cards. If I can get a good Jellicent and a decent roll on the guaranteed Victory Road Excadrill, I MIGHT be able to piece something together. Really hoping I can get like 1 or 2 more mons close to 50.
>>58362606
Thanks, I wish my spoils ended up being a bit better. I'm generally a purist with regards to Dupes Clause but I'd be lying if I didn't said I wasn't wishing that one of my new Liepards ended up being a Solosis. That said, it might work in my favor if I can find a strong Tranquill later on to replace Herz, who I was forced to retire right before his Lifespan ended.

>>58363169
People generally recommend FRLG because the pacing is pretty friendly and you can get good mon variety, especially high quality mons that outpace the quality of the opponents that you're facing. I also like HGSS for similar reasons [also following Pokemon], excellent mon variety if you know what to look for and many encounter spots in general. Grinding does suck but many people these days use Speed Up or PKHex in Infinite Rare Candies to skip the grind. RSE is also one that's recommended a decent amount, but some of the earlier Gym Leaders like Brawly/Wattson can be tough if you got shitty encounters.

>>58363208
I struggle to consider wattson a challenge because I pick mudkip 80% of the time desu

>>58363169
Past gen 6 I wouldn't recommend a nuzlocke if you're a novice. Gen 1 is fun if you know what you're doing at some level.
>>58363164
Sandile is such a cool mon

>>58363235
Yeah if you pick Mudkip you’re obviously fine, he’s a common noob trap though because most people only bring (or have) 1 counter and his Magneton can rip through teams if that counter dies

>>58363411
True
IMO, all three gen 3 starters are solid pokemon, but mudkip has the advantage of being useful earlier, and for a starter, that's kind of a selling point