Sandshrew is the Best Pokemon in a format where you try to lose. Here's Why.

Рет қаралды 378,305

Ай бұрын

The Loser's Game
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Пікірлер: 495

@randomnessrules4971 Ай бұрын

"Should I make this weird metagame?" "Sure, knock yourself out."

@Laezar1 Ай бұрын

nice

@firemanking3271 Ай бұрын

This comment is so good I could faint

@cranapple3367 Ай бұрын

Familyguyhaha.mp4

@enigwa3286 Ай бұрын

LOL it's hilarious to see this. I'm Adrian Marin, the creator of 'Suicide Cup' (later called The Loser's Game). I'm proud to have created such a cursed metagame 😂

@isaachiltyhilty6804 Ай бұрын

@@enigwa3286 not trying to be that guy but how are we supposed to believe you?

@Almond19912 Ай бұрын

Even in the intentionally losing category, Calyrex-S is too OP

@AndrewDevourer Ай бұрын

god i hate that stupid horse

@leaDR356 Ай бұрын

Just goes to show how strong the Horse council members are

@misalignedmisanthropist Ай бұрын

@@leaDR356Calyrex-S is a fraud, he can't even learn High Horsepower

@sidhaarthnair8368 Ай бұрын

@@leaDR356he doesn't learn High horsepower so should he be considered in horse council?

@RoninofCrimsonMaple Ай бұрын

I still stand by that Grim Neigh is close enough to maintain its status as a horse.@@sidhaarthnair8368

@JaxOf7 Ай бұрын

"I fainted, making me the victor." "I must apologize for Sandshrew-Alola. He is an idiot. We purposely trained him wrong, as a joke."

@TheInfiniteAmo Ай бұрын

Quote that film, if you're so great!

@miniyodadude6604 Ай бұрын

@@TheInfiniteAmoKung pow enter the fist

@Gonshotbarz Ай бұрын

Well you have to consider this freezaifaggot considers random battles as competitive just off the fact it has high traffic.. when it's just a bunch of randoms and scrubs not much better than him queuing constantly rolling the dice and hoping the odds are stacked enough against their opponent to make them feel as if they've done something skillful or accomplishment worthy. Way too insecure and full of themselves to teambuild and go thru trial and error gotta just pretend being given under leveled pokemon with weird useless sets is peak competitive play...

@nileprimewastaken Ай бұрын

"not only is he a moron, he's the product of the greatest minds of a generation working together explicitly to create the stupidest moron to ever exist"

@MezzoForte4 21 күн бұрын

Betty approves. 👍

@werh227 Ай бұрын

Playing Loser's Game to feel like I'm winning by not using loser strategies and oneshotting everything

@isaacsimpson8098 Ай бұрын

It would be pretty fun to see a bottom ladder full of people just doing this lol, playing losers game but both trying to win

@woomyboy98 Ай бұрын

@@isaacsimpson8098 technically they would be the true losers by losing at winning by winning which is losing

@isaacsimpson8098 Ай бұрын

@@woomyboy98 yes

@aprinnyonbreak1290 Ай бұрын

This Broke: Playing Loser's Game to lose, thus winning Woke: Playing Loser's game to win, thus losing Bespoke: Ignoring the conditions of Losers game, and playing it to boost your ego or pull off combos that are too inconsistent to use otherwise, but really cool to pull off Ascended: Funbro in Loser's Game

@jrodd13 Ай бұрын

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 Funbro in losers game is just flat out evil 😂

@essentures Ай бұрын

So I was not bad at Pokémon, I was just playing the wrong format

@ioioi_prx4639 Ай бұрын

I'd be a millionaire if I got 100$ after losing

@nellewoodruff6337 Ай бұрын

@@essentures Cue that one gen 5 preschooler quote about changing perspective

@tonydai782 Ай бұрын

@@ioioi_prx4639 But then everyone else would just start losing more than you, so you’d still end up broke.

@sunny3545 Ай бұрын

You'd still lose (by winning)

@CM_684 Ай бұрын

@@nellewoodruff6337 change your perspective and the reality changes.

@plhbuschannel Ай бұрын

Fun Fact: In gen 7, Skill Swap Magic Guard is actually banned because people start running offensive alakazam to kill 5 pokemon and then skill swap magic guard and the opponent literally cannot die with heal pulse support

@olivergro7105 Ай бұрын

Well shouldn't they have banned recycle leppa berry instead? :I

@irakyl Ай бұрын

The fact that you straight up win if you stop just 1 of your opponent's pokemon from dying is what makes this so interesting, for the tourney I was trying to see if I could make it an actual legit playstyle like steel beam and court change but it's too inconsistent. Realizing that you can intentionally faint their problematic pokemon so the final one is exploitable was a eureka moment, but it still wasn't enough.

@FurryCombatWombat Ай бұрын

Fun fact: as the guy in the video that did this strat, it does *not* stop the hp cut from Curse :/

@ViciadoSocialempires Ай бұрын

LMAO

@The_Red_Scare Ай бұрын

What if the opponent had something like Mold Breaker which ignored abilities? Would Mold Breaker on the Alakazam prevent Magic Guard from forcing the opponent to live? And yes, I know they could just switch pokemon, but I'm asking if receiving an ability that ignores other abilities would override the strat if you couldn't switch pokemon for whatever reason.

@VerbalLearning Ай бұрын

When you try to escape Calyrex Shadowrider by playing The Loser's Game. Calyrex Shadowrider: Nah i'd lose.

@muishaggyblanco2349 Ай бұрын

Finally… black sludge bisharp is its optimal set

@AMereFool Ай бұрын

The CTC foresight be shiesty.

@chavonjames8941 Ай бұрын

Sticky Barb *Our battle WILL BE LEGENDARY!*

@500werewolf Ай бұрын

Praise the almighty Calyrex-S! Even when it loses, it still wins.

@PatrickArcato Ай бұрын

I really can't like that pokemon, first it doesn't even look like one, second it's designed by 12 year old stoner, way too strong

@SeaOfPixels Ай бұрын

@@PatrickArcato What seems to be happening is that Gamefreak makes sure to make the latest generation's main important Pokemon blatantly overpowered, so that they stand out in the generation. Sometimes they'll nerf them the next generation so that they don't overshadow the new important Pokemon (Zacian). Seems like they're trying to avoid another Reshiram/Zekrom situation?

@500werewolf Ай бұрын

@PatrickArcato Agreed, and the fact that the overpowered DLC 'mons from Sword & Shield didn't get nerfed is extremely concerning for where their priorities lie. (Clearly, it's money over game balance.)

@RiderOfPeppers Ай бұрын

@@SeaOfPixelswhat happened with reshiramand zekrom?

@SeaOfPixels Ай бұрын

@@RiderOfPeppers Neither were very good in their debut generation, and are even worse now.

@brunoemf90 Ай бұрын

I was waiting to hear Freezai do an 180 on his catchphrase “People play to win” when talking about tiers

@meadnex331 Ай бұрын

Hey freeze sauce, ai here. People play to win...but what if they didn't?

@candlecord Ай бұрын

@@meadnex331 *synth sound followed by drum beat*

@fabian6087 Ай бұрын

The stealth rock strategy should be called 'Self-Rock'.

@aldrichunfaithful3589 Ай бұрын

a few ppl here were talking about endless battles, and it gave me a funny idea for a format which would basically be a race to trigger an endless battle. whoever gets their opponent stuck first wins

@GGreenHeart Ай бұрын

This would be such a blast!! Shame it would be literally impossible to build a computer to recognize a win 😅 But human refs in a tournament could work!

@aldrichunfaithful3589 Ай бұрын

@@GGreenHeart i don't think it's too hard tbh. every endless trapper has to have recycle, heal pulse and a leppa berry, so once you get it going a computer could probably recognise that. the only cringe part would be people denying the loss with timer stall which already happens lol. also now that i'm thinking about it all the trappers would have to click a very telegraphed move that you'd switch out of to trap you, so the game would likely be about killing 5 mons to trap the last which would be pretty boring

@FlygonkingVGC Ай бұрын

Everyone would just run alolan exxeguttor with leppa berry and sunny day

@aedd3307 26 күн бұрын

@@aldrichunfaithful3589trying to solve the halting problem

@Aaa-vp6ug 21 күн бұрын

@@aldrichunfaithful3589make it so there’s a turn timer akin to speed chess, if you take too long, you lose by default.

@zdelrod829 Ай бұрын

Heal Pulse is insane in this format. Also, I didn't know Perish Song could be Baton Passed.

@firewall5189 Ай бұрын

pokerogue taught me the hard way 😔

@sometijng Ай бұрын

@@firewall5189 my reaction when that mf pulls out a spiritomb against my gator (its totover):

@zaleww5824 Ай бұрын

All changes except status passes to pokemon

@vyor8837 Ай бұрын

I'm surprised no one used Trick with Leftovers to disrupt things

@sup3760 Ай бұрын

the format where tera ice is strong is the one where you want to lose, thats pretty funny

@PotatoPrem Ай бұрын

tera ice is strong in normal format too bozo. Bolt-beam regieleki, jolteon, etc

@jebalitabb8228 Ай бұрын

@@PotatoPremno one uses those pokemon tho lmfao

@twilightsilver6230 Ай бұрын

@jebalitabb8228 a lot of pokemon run Tera Ice offensively in OU, the main examples being Kyurem and Weavile. UU pokemon can run them as well, for example Sandy Shocks, Mamoswine, and famously the Tera Ice Tera Blast Hydrapple Stall that was common on the OU ladder a few months ago.

@Gonshotbarz Ай бұрын

@Iris_Descent Ай бұрын

10:39 Oh, this is actually implemented wrong here. Steel Beam doesn't do any damage to the user if the move fails due to there being no target.

@razorshell3049 Ай бұрын

"Loser's Game" nah nah nah the OG Name is the "Suicide Cup".

@VixstraLarge Ай бұрын

Ah yes, the chalice laced with cyanide

@zdelrod829 Ай бұрын

@@VixstraLargeBoeing Whistleblower Bash.

@lorekeeper685 Ай бұрын

@@zdelrod829 Like the guy from enumclaw?

@zdelrod829 Ай бұрын

@@lorekeeper685 not that one. The one that was supposed to testify.

@lorekeeper685 Ай бұрын

@@zdelrod829 you mean the recent two

@SmugLookingBarrel Ай бұрын

I remember trying to make a team around intentionally forcing the Endless Battle Clause game loss, where I would use Block, Fling a Leppa Berry and then Recycle it. Was disappointed when that didn't win me the game.

@Emilia-_. Ай бұрын

what is endless battle clause?

@electrolapze Ай бұрын

@@Emilia-_.Endless battle clause is a clause that bans people from using specific moves that can create an endless battle, like using leppa Berry, fling and recycle. The idea of that is that nobody will run out of pp because the leppa berry will activate. It’s kind of hard to explain in one comment, but Freezai has a good video on it

@Skullhawk13 Ай бұрын

@@electrolapzewhy don’t they just ban leppa berry straight up?

@rainbowthedragoncat6768 Ай бұрын

@@Skullhawk13 bc you might want to use it for non endless battle purposes

@Skullhawk13 Ай бұрын

@@rainbowthedragoncat6768 any examples?

@michabaron4129 Ай бұрын

I like the deep dive into an obscure metagame and it was fun trying to come up with my own ideas about the format before learning the truth (i figured out SR court swap yay) but it would he nice to hear a smidge more about the final tournament match than "one guy lost other didnt" lol

@austinish Ай бұрын

I imagine he didn't elaborate because the format seems a bit boring outside of the concept. The meta strategy says it all: you spam steel beam. The actual strategic bits were explained, but the rest was "player one clicked steel beam, player two clicked switch" for the majority of the battle. Doesn't seem like there's all that much to explain.

@Gonshotbarz Ай бұрын

@warmwater9509 Ай бұрын

hear me out on a new tournament format: loser's game, expect that every other battle in the tournament, including the finals, is won by winning, ie making the opponent lose all 6 pokemon. It would be interesting to see teambuilding that's both good at fainting and killing

@nickg5341 20 күн бұрын

bro is cooking with gas

@FriendlyNeighborhoodLamia 26 күн бұрын

It’s fascinating that a niche metagame like losing on purpose can have such depth

@gengarisnotinsmash... Ай бұрын

Obligatory "Finally, a format I'm good at!" comment.

@cryochick9044 Ай бұрын

Im surprised torment isn't used. They wanna steel beam spam? They can't use it twice in a row

@underrated1524 Ай бұрын

Too slow

@zachpro5475 Ай бұрын

Funny uploaded after the meta game was unlisted for latter

@JavierGomez-px8xh Ай бұрын

Black sludge bisharp is about to cook↕️↔️

@inferno7892 Ай бұрын

It was truly ahead of its time

@tomorchard6660 Ай бұрын

Agency intelligence knew

@biospark4758 Ай бұрын

I wonder if Pain Split would have a niche here. Run disruption tactics while your opponent is lowering their own HP and then equalize both your health bars

@Gonshotbarz Ай бұрын

@FlygonkingVGC Ай бұрын

A great way to block steel beam is grassy terrain because they need to do one more steel beam so u can use one more alolan vulpix thanks wood hammer toxic orb grookey

@davidknopp1208 Ай бұрын

OGs remember when it was called Suicide Cup

@Edujs23 Ай бұрын

My mental cook was using Cinderace, a stealth rock mon, and 4 pokémon 4x weak to rock The stealth rock mon uses it, Cinder court change it, and then you just switch your mons arround The rock mon would need a way to ko itself tho

@sarraceniafell Ай бұрын

found the one who didnt finish the video before commenting

$@ohandthefracking$

@ohandthefracking Ай бұрын

@@sarraceniafell LMFAO GAG THEM FOR ME

@leandro-eo7bd Ай бұрын

watch the vid until the end

@nellewoodruff6337 Ай бұрын

My mental cook is rocky helmet, trick, contact multihit turbo. Also could pain split be good?

@tardigrade8019 Ай бұрын

@@nellewoodruff6337I also feel like truck leftovers could do something

@Generichoneydew Ай бұрын

"comment on the video too, thats an order" ON IT BOSS

@raywt Ай бұрын

aww alolan sandshrew is one of my favorite pokemon.. i'm so proud seeing it be the best, even if it's just the best at being the worst

@noxiousroxie Ай бұрын

I didn’t expect the perish song + Baton LOL

@kemosonicfan123lbp Ай бұрын

This is like that one chess variant except there's enough layers to it that it's not solved

@gregorymirabella1423 Ай бұрын

I thought Sandshrew only became steel type after it evolved, I guess I had it mixed up with Vulpix.

@TheRageBaiter Ай бұрын

It sucks that this is a challengeable OM and not an other metagame with a ladder

@DIOderent 25 күн бұрын

i just found out about it this year, but it used to have a ladder. not sure when they got rid of the ladder for it though

@almightymudkip3856 Ай бұрын

Can’t wait to try Jumpkick recoil strats

@nowelltheowl5619 Ай бұрын

Even when the objective is to lose, Stealth Rocks finds a way to be a core strategy.

@axr1798 Ай бұрын

At first I thought that the whole format was going to be about gholdengo and damp pokemon like golduck, but there's a surprising amount of depth, this could actually be an official ruleset.

@aquageist Ай бұрын

I imagine if self destructs were allowed, you'd have people using some Damp pokemon to counter it.

@E4439Qv5 Ай бұрын

Quagsire meta is back...

@jpmac1119 Ай бұрын

Playing in this was such a blast! Hope for more weird gimmick events like this in the future

@ktvx.94 Ай бұрын

Even when you're trying to lose, fairies are still top tier

@thecornmaker849 Ай бұрын

You love to see electrode winning

@therealx2907 Ай бұрын

This format is just a full on comedy show on my little friend Sandshrew-A

@NagKai_G Ай бұрын

It was fun playing this tournament and format. I didn't even think about black sludge strats, so i lost on the second game, but i used a stealth rocks comp (although it was very poorly made as i created the team minutes before the tournament) with shadow tag gothita to lock a mon that couldn't easily die by itself after i set up stealth rocks and heal pulse + taunt till gothita dies. Very poorly explained but at least i won 2/3 games (1 win in tournament and another in post tournament game)

@Gonshotbarz Ай бұрын

@NotroLPS Күн бұрын

Ugh, THIS is the kind of content I want to be reccomended! You’ve got a good voice. For some reason KZfaq decided to reccomend me a REACTION to this video instead of the real thing, but I decided to come here and watch it myself.

@agisuru Ай бұрын

I'd like to point out that Knock Off's item removal is still relevant in this meta, and Tera Ghost, in addition to the curse thing, has the more niche interaction of making you weak to Knock Off, potentially getting you KOd faster.

@FishGamingReal Ай бұрын

Cant wait for the day Freezai popularizes Balanced Hackmons and I can say I was there "before it was cool"

@majorhoolahan Ай бұрын

I never thought I'd hear about a metagame so fundamentally hilarious.

@Gonshotbarz Ай бұрын

@nickhelmer Ай бұрын

Hi Jump Kick seems like the anti Calyrex tech. Also I imagine Trick + Leftovers would be interesting countermeta

@Arcanine1995 Ай бұрын

'free' and 'doesn't cost anything' mean the same thing

@Blanktester685 Ай бұрын

incorrect

@ShinyCyndaquil3 Ай бұрын

@@Blanktester685please elaborate

@jqvy Ай бұрын

L take

@imapaincake2305 Ай бұрын

You have free space on your phone You have "doesn't cost anything" space in your phone. It wouldn't cost you anything to do more chores!! It would be free to you to do more chores!!

@ShinyCyndaquil3 Ай бұрын

@@imapaincake2305 I understand what you mean but in this context wouldn’t it just be a case of one word having multiple meanings.

@firengel2807 7 күн бұрын

- Are you winning, son? - I'm losing so hard, dad! - Proud of you, son!

@Yas-gu1pj Ай бұрын

İ feel like this video should have been a freezai live video

@Undergroundrising-c4j Ай бұрын

Black sludge sheninja is peak Paul mentality.

@diduoup7407 Ай бұрын

Pretty proud of myself for thinking about the stealth rock court change beford you mentioned it

@Siinory Ай бұрын

FINALLY!! A category for me! 8D

@Gonshotbarz Ай бұрын

Nah this is freezais for sure. You and anyone else are way beyond winners over this scrub lord

@blueice7906 Ай бұрын

This is the single most funny pokemon video and I’m in suprised I never heard

@slushbucket707 Ай бұрын

finally a metagame where my goat Klefki is good

@bretterry8356 2 күн бұрын

My first thought was the Perish Song and Roar combo, but I also thought of disrupting the opponent with sleep and paralysis, using Pain Split when they're almost dead to hurt yourself and heal them, etc.

@Flygoniaks Ай бұрын

For those who just want the answer to the title: Alolan Sandshrew is so good in this format because it has the lowest Special Attack of any Pokémon that can learn Steel Beam. Since Steel Beam does recoil damage equal to half the user's max HP, it's a staple in this format, and Sandshrew can ensure that you don't kill your opponents faster than yourself.

@Ufo3208_ Ай бұрын

Dude I had so much fun in this tournament, but sadly lost to the guy who ended up winning the whole thing by me throwing a little bit 😅

@timskrobot4025 Ай бұрын

I'm surprised I didn't hear about the move False Swipe or the Sticky Barb item. If you're forced to attack, false swipe would be a good option and Sticky Barb would be good if there are restrictions on items like Black Sludge.

@baumina1706 Ай бұрын

if youre forced to attack, snore always fails (except for a few nice scenarios)

@lilfrogman0395 Ай бұрын

I'm surprised pain split isn't used bc if you use it on a low hp mon you heal them while you drop. Especially if at full hp idk might be a sleeper pick

@benjamincooper358 Ай бұрын

Doesn’t work for Steel Beam but considering the amount of Chloroblast around, is Sap Sipper viable?

@PatJamma Ай бұрын

I would have lost horribly because my first thought was Dry Skin in the sun

@byrontheusurper6505 Ай бұрын

You can baton pass perish song!? That's CRAZY!

@vanesslifeygo Ай бұрын

it is just as difficult to intentional lose at rock paper scissors as it is to win. pokemon is rock paper scissors gone out of control. here we are again.

@DiegoG2004 Ай бұрын

How am i not shocked that even losing is hyper optimized to basically one strategy

@emilygordbort7300 Ай бұрын

I was instructed by Freezai's discord to watch and comment

@TTLunar Ай бұрын

Yo waddup here for support

@PrivateUser1667 Ай бұрын

I have never heard Steel Beam so much in my Life

@Vmac1394 7 күн бұрын

Man, I was not expecting Pokémon Golf to turn out like this.

@et34t34fdf Ай бұрын

This is hilarious.

@leaDR356 Ай бұрын

My awful plays will make me win (lose) in this game too 💀

@DoggyP00 Ай бұрын

baton passing perish song is so funny

@kitchaos1118 Ай бұрын

is high atk confusion viable in any way? you can deal a ton to yourself if you get attack very high

@JackieJackJackerJacky Ай бұрын

It's not viable because it's just not very reliable. Having high Attack means you'll be dealing a lot of damage to your opponent. There's also very few ways to apply Confusion on yourself. Moves like Outrage and Petal Dance takes 2-3 turns meanwhile eating a berry that matches your Nature heals you which is counteractive. I haven't even mentioned that Confusion is not only temporary but you also only have a 33% chance to hurt yourself every turn.

@E4439Qv5 Ай бұрын

Belly Drum and Thrash/Outrage, maybe?

@StarfieldDisarray Ай бұрын

I don't think there's any convenient ways to confuse yourself that don't threaten to kill the enemy team first.

@Zorin1 Ай бұрын

Still interesting to see the sweaty strats in a meme format

@dinoooooom Ай бұрын

On the topic of weird strats, would wonder skin be optimal in that format? Being able to mess with heal pulse/taunt acc could be intresting to watch. Venomoth isnt great, but it gets sleep powder, baton pass and disable, so maybe?

@FunniClapboard Ай бұрын

Electrode with self-destruct 💀

@analoghabits9217 Ай бұрын

another ruleset could be your opponent uses the team you bring

@mjdxp5688 Ай бұрын

Ah yes, of course: The best Pokémon are Calyrex-S and Sandshrew. Seems legit.

@Brandon_Hardie Ай бұрын

FINALLY A W FOR MY BOY ALOLAN SANDSHREW

@natcole5981 Ай бұрын

I could imagine people building teams with 6 damp users vs explosion mons

@EnergyBurst2 17 күн бұрын

Actually, the first thing I thought about before even explosion spam was Ghost type Curse spam since that move halves the user's HP, but then again I've never checked how many ghost type lines get the move aside from the Gengar line so there might not be enough to make that completely viable. Edit: after checking I can confirm there are more than 6 ghost type lines that get Curse

@FeeN0mene Ай бұрын

This metagame makes me think about the move Torment. It's the move that prevents the opponent from repeating the same move twice. Is there a way for this move to be reliable ?

@BlackReaper0 Ай бұрын

Very interesting metagame.

@meepswag35 Ай бұрын

Imagine using espeons magic bounce to get rocks on yourself

@3liasBlue Ай бұрын

2:37 “fanum tax evader”

@Manpag 23 күн бұрын

Ironically, I use Alolan Sandshrew in the games. Why? 0 SpA IV, -SpA nature Sandshrew is one of the weakest users of Powder Snow, the weakest Ice-type move with a chance to freeze. I can spam it on wild Pokémon until they get frozen if I need to, while using Eviolite for extra bulk.

@byrontheusurper6505 Ай бұрын

What an awesome format

@sagacious03 Ай бұрын

Another neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading! Although, this meta sounds a little centralized, no?

@Excellsion Ай бұрын

Now this is podracing.

@failurefiend Ай бұрын

Hmm a doubles mode could be interesting

@ashtonoak4370 Ай бұрын

i guess because id never do it, but never knew baton pass could pass perish song till now, and i now also see how i blew one of my pokerouge runs as i didnt know HOW perish song killed me after i baton passed out

@sloowbroo Ай бұрын

Me when Freezai tells me to comment on his video (its an order)

@Gamertag1001 10 күн бұрын

I participated in the tournament and got top 16 with Ralts, a niche Pokémon as Steel Beam fodder and Taunt + Heal Pulse

@torterratortellini6641 17 күн бұрын

0:48 I don’t think this should be banned because the damp ability prevents self destruct and explosion. As for memento that makes sense.

@gravityvertigo13579 Ай бұрын

Finally... The time of Sandshrew is at hand...

@Zoroarkarceus123 Ай бұрын

Mime Jr. would probably be a nice niche pick if it was available, because it can get Soundproof and Skill Swap and do what Clefable does but for Perish Song users. Plus, it's weak to Steel Beam, so hey