Pokemon Who Have Surprised Me
While playing Pokemon Go, I’ve been told multiple times about what the meta is and what Pokemon are good and what Pokemon I should power up and all that. But I’ve had some Pokemon, Pokemon who are normally ignored or not used or anything like that, who have really stepped forward and done their job in my moment of need. That sounds tacky and corny but frankly, not everyone has an army of fucking Tyranitars and Shadow Ball Mewtwos. And frankly some of these Pokemon are so unpopular I couldn’t find models of them in the Garry’s Mod Steam Workshop.
Here are five stories where normal Pokemon have saved the day.
My Seventh Pokemon
Very early on, I basically had no good Pokemon. The seventh Pokemon I caught though was a Persian, with a CP of about 450. Persian was never a particularly impressive Pokemon. It’s a cool-looking cat, but since it evolved from Meowth and it was a normal type, most people didn’t care. Still, that Persian (named Virgil after my cat) is still with me, simply because it helped me a lot with early gym fights. Turns out though, Virgil also has an IV of 98%! It was my highest IV Pokemon for pretty much my entire time in Pokemon Go (beating my 95% Rhydon and 97% Mew) and was only dethroned on December 1st when I got a 100% Chikorita from a trade with my brother.
The Sandslash That Always Lived
I don’t know why, but I’ve had this random Sandslash for ages, and every time I stuck him in my 6th slot for early Raids (before I hit level 28-30), the raid would always end with this Sandslash with a slither of health. Sure, it was mostly just coincidence and I noticed it more as I used the Sandslash on the Moltres Raid Day. Somehow, that Sandslash always lived. Even when I moved him from my 6th slot to my 4th slot.
In fact, the only times I’ve had to revive that poor Sandslash are when I’ve stuck him in gyms. But he can’t help that.
A Couple of Granbulls
Not having an army of Tyranitars does mean I can’t do things like solo Level 3 Raids and things like that. An army of Tyranitars was of course a pretty good choice for Raid Battles against Giratina, a Dragon/Ghost type. Of course, when I did my first raid against Giratina with a bunch of other people, I didn’t even have a Tyranitar at the time. So I stuck my tankiest stuff in, a few dark types and two Granbulls. Everything else died but those Granbulls did pretty well considering that they were just Granbulls. They both had dark and fairy types and the Granbull in my 6th slot survived until the very end.
In fact, the two Granbulls I have, both at around CP 2100, I found them in the wild. Just sort of wandering around minding their own business. I’d caught one literally just before the raid. So these wild things just saved my bacon for no real reason. They’re also both called Bill now, while I scour the lands looking for a good Snubbull to evolve.
Lucky Rhydon
Let’s be honest, my Lucky Rhydon, named Hornier, has carried me through a lot. I got him in a trade when I needed literally one more candy to evolve Rhyhorn into Rhydon, having set aside another Rhyhorn to evolve. Well that other Rhyhorn (which wasn’t very good anyway) ended up being sacrificed to the candy gods so my Lucky Rhyhorn could evolve.
For a looooong time, it was my highest CP Pokemon, followed by my small army of Moltreses. Hornier never had the best attacks (because clearly Charge and Fast TMs hate me) but that doesn’t matter. Hornier’s bulk is what mattered most to me, as he would be able to keep me in higher tier raids just as everyone else was about to kill the bastard. There’s nothing worse than being kicked out of the raid because all your Pokemon ‘fainted’ just as the raid boss falls.
These days, Hornier is a Rhyperior. He’s my second highest CP Pokemon after I evolved a maxed out Larvitar, but he still gets some use, generally as slot 5 or 6 in raids.
The Counterfeit Mewtwo
I don’t have a Shadow Ball Mewtwo. I don’t have a Shadow Claw/Shadow Ball Gengar. Actually I don’t really have many Pokemon with Shadow Ball. The best thing I have is an Alakazam. He’s gotten the job done plenty of times and often lasts a bit longer than my Gengars as well. Is my Alakazam as good as a Shadow Ball Mewtwo? No way. Alakazam has less health and does less damage. But Alakazam is way easier to obtain now that Mewtwo has vanished from both Ex Raids and normal raids, is way cheaper to power up and honestly, no one expects him.
I actually wanted to call my Alakazam Counterfeit Mewtwo but there wasn’t enough space, so he’s just called Blaine these days.
While these are just silly little anecdotes, it’s always worth considering other options. Both in Pokemon Go and other games you play. Just because it’s not meta, doesn’t always mean it’s bad, right?