Explaining the Best Competitive Pokémon Memes

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[@maymoo509]

The way I see it, kyogre is surrounded. What's under the ocean? That's right, more earth.

[@russ6541]

The way i see it, groudon is surrounded. What's under the earth? That's right, more water.

[@OctavKitty]

@russ6541 No. There's more earth and lava.

[@Earthboundmike]

@@OctavKitty Depends on how far you go.

[@LiveGame555]

@@OctavKitty Magma*

[@OctavKitty]

@@LiveGame555 true true

[@sandsunderthetable.6625]

If great tusk learned pursuit the world would have collapsed

[@jjmmmmm8111]

Goldengoh on suicide watch

[@abscinding]

I mean ... How many pokemon would even suffer from Tusk learning this?

[@froglord9213]

@@abscindinggholdengo lmao

[@fogwzu1939]

@@abscinding like only Gholdengo as Pult just Will-o-Wisps.

[@lukefreund08]

I’m so glad pursuit was removed bc in nuzlockes it was just a delete button for like all my mons

[@akumoth8357]

It's a beautiful day outside. Glimmora is leading, Kingambit is sweeping

[@whatthewhatthe9117]

On days like these, mons like you, should be banned to bl

[@mhx5071]

On days like this, Meta Players like you,

[@daboss4318]

@@mhx5071*should be setting stealth r o c k*

[@xxgioxx7688]

on days like these, threats like you

[@theofroisgomes6457]

@@xxgioxx7688should be sent to BL

[@fogwzu1939]

As you can see the agency is up 5 to 1...

[@sayvionwashington1939]

Swaps into Clef like he's already won

[@grunkleg.2934]

And he wants to Knock the Sludge so he can stop the Recover

[@danaa-]

But gets haxed on his meli thats an unlucky blunder

[@leontrix7104]

Meli swaps to Peli and he died to the rocks

[@juanjoselopezhernandez6841]

And Blunder goes to Barraskewda thinking he'll do a lot

[@snivy400]

It’s not so much that Clodsire looks goofy when it stalls but rather the fact that unaware by itself is a really funny ability because it’s literally just “I did not see you set up therefore your boosts don’t exist” that combined with Clodsire’s dopey ass expression just makes it funnier because there are zero thoughts behind those eyes. Clodsire is just so no thoughts head empty that your boosts are just gone now.

[@Etoka]

Whole lotta yapping to say nothing

[@Teonukii]

I also love how the boots don't even fit him

[@Teonukii]

​@@Etoka🤓☝️

[@ThePenisMan]

Starts comment by saying it’s not because of how it looks, ends by saying it’s because of how it looks Huh

[@paulelderson934]

Ah yes, a 12 minute video about some random competitive Pokemon memes. The perfect comment section to complain about not having enough meaning or value per word count.

[@CrimsonTy]

This feels like a teacher putting a meme in the presentation, then talking about why it relates to that subject

[@dreeg1896]

5:23 Ability: Brave Bird: gives priority to Brave Bird moves

[@MidnightUmbra]

My first ever "competitive" battle (if you could even call it that) was on the Online Battle System of XY when I was 13. I was 1 shot 6 times in a row by Talonflame. Every single Talonflame I came across was a losing battle my tiny child brain couldnt counter it. Then I tried to use it and failed miserably. The Talonflame meme lives in me rent free

[@NETIERRAS]

something similar happend to me. First comp game, gen 7 if i remember corectly. Contrary Serperior is not fun to play against...

[@irakyl]

My first actual online battlewas also XY, I wanted to sweep with my favourite pokemon Ninjask but I couldn't get past a sableye who wisped me and kept recovering. I lost, and then caught one to exploit the brokenness but soon realised my status moves were moving last instead of first lol

[@_RedRightHand_]

​@@irakyl They really did Sableye dirty with Stall.

[@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo]

@@irakylPrankster

[@nicktheninja3166]

I had a similar experience with guts swellow. they took out my mvp, a jolly choice band crobat at the time and then swapped to swellow. This rpute one bird cant be that fast right? It's not a threat. Ah it clicked facade 5 times and won the game, wtf is its speed stat, why were you playing in OU, it clearly worked. Base 125? Ok, time to breeda swellow. After like 5 wins with it, i nicknamed it grim reaper, boy was out here 2HKOing anything that wasn't steel or rock.

[@FinalKaiserKami]

The clefable one never fails to crack me up, but my favorite meme will always be "My preparation was superior, my play was superior, and I lost." I use it every now and then when I play competitive games when people get salty and its just to funny.

[@BB_Azurite]

Holy shit my meme showed up in the video. I'm the one who drew the Ice punch Dusknoir. I'm so happy you liked it.

[@jootersblaccat]

good job!

[@paco4668]

Love the Inspector Gadget reference and great artistic talent too!

[@BB_Azurite]

@@paco4668 thank you.

[@RocketWeaponsGuy]

based

[@princesscrystal6410]

I love ice punch dusknoir

[@Wonderlvnd]

Ye Freezai was quick to not focus too much on the white seaman entering bros mouth

[@formerlypie8781]

Homie didnt want to explain the full tatsugiri meme 😂

[@kingofthejungle5338]

Keepin it PG XD

[@Mario-wp8ut]

LOL just kept it pushing

[@User-dyn]

CU

[@666blaziken]

He didn't want to get his video demonetized

[@RobotFlower2763]

"Trust the process, bro! We'll eventually reach VGC!" "Tatsugiri, we're inside a dondozo."

[@nicksmith332]

Don’t mess with us r/Stunfisk users Most of us don’t even play competitive pokemon

[@waves9515]

Still more than Freezai commenters though 😂

[@NeoGraena]

"I just _____ do not watch competitive Pokémon" -Giannis Antetokounmpo

[@mario-nk7be]

6:10 but freezai, why is tatsugiri's shiny being white is so funny you have to tell us

[@TitaNaboa-hc9dh]

Kum

[@TLTheLegend]

Actually, Arceus-Steel the Arceus-Flying is still fully possible. You're only prevented from naming your Pokemon after a different species, but arceus formes are all the same species.

[@maxspecs]

The chad move is to have your Arceus Steel go Flying Tera.

[@ThePenisMan]

I swear I tried this exact same thing before and it stopped me Plus I’m pretty sure alternate forms count as different Pokémon anyways, which includes Arceus

[@ThePenisMan]

Yeah just checked you can’t. He did say so in the video, unless you spell it incorrectly without a hyphen Alternate forms like Arceus and megas are like that because Pokémon is programmed like that

[@TLTheLegend]

@@ThePenisMan I literally just named my Arceus-Flying "Arceus-Steel" in an ubers team and it passed the validator (I made sure to give it Sky Plate too)

[@SinNun-tx5jp]

Still countered by choosing the option to not see nicknames

[@MolfredoSascha]

"this team in UU feel like an invasive species" B R A H i laughed harder than i should with that xD

[@Connowot387]

Lokix: This MF got them fake Tinkatons!

[@DaShoopdahoop]

*sucker punch* Zoroark (Hisui) fainted!

[@zestysword]

Tinkatimbs

[@quiverdancervolca]

No Zekrom Kick? No Homophobic Ferrothorn? The world is doomed

[@rohateanonis4657]

Very interested in homophopic ferrothorn

[@theaegislash8249]

For the Whimsicott meme at 4:08, its funny because the confetti from the encore move animation can be seen, with the person repeating his statement as if he has been encored into repeating himself

[@LonesomeDevil]

Honestly, I love when super niche strats are found. Bonus point if they actually make it work. Obviously it shouldn't be used in a serious match, but Electrode being able to outspeed and OHKO Choice Band Dragapult with Foul Play is hilarious! The art made for the meme is incredible as well.

[@darthhydreigon820]

eight f*cking ground types and how r/stunfisk just spammed it into oblivion even tho heatran had other issues and ground types generally dont want to take it on head on

[@Memetastic]

Every time I run Heatran on a team, that 8 ground types meme goes in my head.

[@meticakolli1237]

YOU ARE HERE?

[@CollieDaze]

Not actually explaining the tatsugiri meme killed me lmao

[@Nadid_Dhrabb]

You should cover "More usage than you" and "Kanye raps Blunder's biggest choke" in a seperate video, the whole world should see those

[@glacierwolf2155]

I can't believe that my meme made it on here. (The 60 BP U-Turn one)

[@pikapower_kirby]

Thank you for that meme! I love Scizor, and I was giggling like an idiot when I saw it

[@Weareonenation303]

Freezeai: You don't have a Blissey analogue. Dondozo: I'm I a joke?

[@Isabelle-mp8rk]

tbh it hasn't been a single pokemon, it has just been the concept of "bulky water"

[@ronnieketchum1241]

Toxapex.

[@siddhantkamble9502]

If you can do more than 33% damage to dozo you beat it.

[@Yearofthebows24]

5:54 Gen 6 Talonflame meme tickled a nostalgic funny bone that made me laugh for about 5 minutes. That's a good way to get me out of feeling blue

[@pedrovitor3858]

I dont think tatsugiri is white on the image because its shiny...

[@hankhill6404]

That shit made me do a spit take lmfao

[@Nosue-vw5rj]

@@hankhill6404 it made me do a swallow take

[@hankhill6404]

@@Nosue-vw5rj 😂

[@miimiiandco]

​@@Nosue-vw5rj It made me stockpile takes

[@LordLucario12]

So I can actually explain the first one even more: that battle was the result of a popular ongoing series of threads on /vp/, the 4chan Pokemon board, called Showderp. Basically, a single person chooses to be a guinea pig to ladder on showdown, and 6 Pokemon are chosen, often with terrible sets, to ladder with. You wonder why that team looks strange? That's why

[@Skullhawk13]

You just can’t handle the truth that team is optimal performance :3 asserting dominance is the only winning move.

[@LoudWaffle]

That’s also where a legendary moment in battle happened, though I’m not sure how widespread it’s known: the champ was down to his last pokemon Parasect vs opponent’s last which is Alakazam. He had the choice of going for an attack which would lose if the ‘Zam had focus sash on, so at chat’s i sistence he went Spore instead… it got cured by a chesto berry, winning the game for the opponent. Not a lum berry, a chesto. The opponent explained that he runs a rest Alakazam set. Literally ‘Psychic, toxic, rest, sleep talk.’ Chat went wild.

[@estherstreet4582]

I'm not into comp at all really, and I hate 4chan's brand of humour most of the time, but showderp sets are so funny. Seriously, even if you're not into competitive pokemon, try out a couple of showderp sets in in-game battle facilities. My favourite has to be BOOM BOOM, which is a chansey that uses buffs and recovery to support its main damaging move, metronome. It's called BOOM BOOM because rng is a harsh mistress and you can probably guess which move it rolls with surprising regularity.

[@Krimson241]

Just a reminder that shiny galarian moltres looks very similar to normal moltres, and you can very much troll with it. Any you can get very similar reactions to the arceus steel one

[@rdchris6556]

Now we need a video explaining the deep lore of some of the r/stunfisk memes

[@yourboi5492]

Homophobic Ferrothorn

[@jacobkim9075]

The world isn't ready for Zekrom Kick.

[@SammyK-jt3vv]

​@@jacobkim9075this reality would discombobulate if they learned the lore of ferrothorn...

[@senny-]

From how I see it

[@FistingGuru]

CAN YOU GUYS NOT READ?

[@Ryan-he7zf]

On Arceus: I queued into a guy on natdex ubers ladder with an arceus fighting named arceus fire while practicing for the tournament Freezai ran. I was like wait what arceus is this? And it said Arceus fire but I had seen the memes so I hovered and it was arceus fighting. I was like "that bastard". He named it without the - so it worked😂

[@supremefsh9854]

I like that the narrative of this video is explaining jokes, honesty hilarious

[@squid356]

it always feels surreal to see that arceus screenshot because i was/am part of that small friendgroup who made those troll sets and used them while spectating and heckling both sides. unfortunately mods dont like heckling so now our battles get auto-muted if we have too many spectators. but its nice knowing that our little trolling still gets passed around and makes others laugh

[@somethinginworl]

My meme is the Roaring Moon/Clodsire one! Ty so much for featuring it!!!

[@sanctokalibero]

the fake magic guard clefable will always be the funniest to me

[@joshuabidleman9912]

He didn't talk about Zekrom Kick 😭

[@bryenwang4836]

banned to AGBL

[@Winterbub]

This generation is the best competitive meme 💀

[@DonBoneJones]

your entire mons career is the best competitive meme SKULLEMOJIII

[@Winterbub]

@@DonBoneJones LOL

[@eieneidnf]

All the cool kids are just playing older gens or other jrpgs like like a dragon infinite wealth or the new dq monsters game Everyone gangsta until the gen 9 OU council gets doxxed and its a bunch of 15 year olds

[@CodyTheBlackChickenSubscribe]

Smogon banning gen 9 mons is the best meme. As they're clearly meming on the competitive format they made

[@playaskirbyandwin267]

@@eieneidnfare you like Ok

[@RagnellAvalon]

The summary of the Ice Punch bit is more of a self-report than an explanation

[@FloridusMan]

The best part of the flying Arceus meme was that the guy fully known it wasn't a steel type given fire wasn't super effective

[@TexasFlowers]

i think about the "HE GOT ON THEM FAKE MAGIC GUARDS!!!" at least once a month

[@halfway7690]

I like it when I set up six calm minds and Clodsire goes the equivalent of: nuh uh.

[@R.P.Genocraft]

12:18 Dragapult's choice band wouldn't increase the damage from foul play in that scenario btw. Only its actual attack stat and stat stages are factored in, so if it had Huge Power it wouldn't be boosted either. If the Electrode had choice band or huge power on the other hand, it would indeed be boosted.

[@DuskoftheTwilight]

Choice Band doesn't increase the damage but a choice band dragapult means it doesn't have choice scarf, which would be able to outspeed the Electrode.

[@R.P.Genocraft]

@@DuskoftheTwilight damn, didn't know trode was such a meta threat it made pults run scarf 🤯

[@jasonbell8515]

@@R.P.Genocraft It isn't AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHY THIS WORKS.

[@lyzder7298]

​​@@DuskoftheTwilight late reply, but the user's modifiers DO apply for foul play. Foul play uses the target's attack and stat changes, but applies the user's modifiers like held item and, before the change in gen 9, burn as well

[@nicolasurrea7764]

This is my favorite video I’ve seen in a while, a trip down memory lane and a delightful collection of great memes I missed. Please do more!

[@calvinnguyen1870]

All of gen 9 feels like a meme tbh

[@nicolinrucker5181]

Did you forget the part where Galewings itself got hard nerfed to only work when Talonflame was full HP so you'd only get one prio Brave Birb?

[@joetalentoh]

Those Talonflame/brave bird memes were one of the first competitive Pokémon memes that had me actually rolling on the floor when I first saw them. Flying spam with CB Talonflame/Mega Pinsir was the first ever competitive team I built, ah the good ol days

[@bisharppro7776]

There's 2 kind of people here The one's who don't know And the one's who helped to improve morale

[@turbo8628]

As someone who doesn't follow meme culture, this is brilliant. More of these please. Also some lore from smogon/showdown battles and drama could be interesting (like that infamous rant about making the perfect plays and losing to luck before the dude left).

[@nexela]

This video is honestly a smart way to promote the discord

[@HopefulBlue]

5:50 Gale Wings also got nerfed to only having priority with flying type moves at full HP.

[@castform7]

I think my favourites from this video are the Forces of Nature conservation and Ribombee in OU. One's just Tornadus and Landorus just going through the motions and having charming small talk and the other just makes me happy since one of my favourite Pokemon found a niche.

[@Yell-0-crocodile]

8:15 the meme on the right killed me 💀

[@shasan2393]

The one that made me laugh the most. The second most was the tatsugiri one lmao

[@Azusashusband]

I'm suprised Kingambit being literally every type wasn't mentioned

[@ghettospaghetto1627]

For more context, the Arceus-Steel image came from a subsection of 4chans /vp/ board dedicated to sh*tposting on showdown known as showderp. Spectators could send in meme sets from a dedicated website or create their own for a player to use on ladder, which is why STROKER's team is the way it is. Don't know what they're doing today and don't really care to find out lol. However I think showderp mostly died after the hide spectators feature rolled out

[@danielgysi5729]

I wish it hadn't existed on 4chan. The idea of being a bunch of folks together to spectate games with a funny team is really cool but they could be so toxic

[@ghettospaghetto1627]

@@danielgysi5729 Couldn't agree more. I distinctly remember spectating a team that had homophobic and transphobic pokemon names in it and i cringe everytime i think about that. The heckling was also a massive problem too. God why did i expose myself to this as a teen

[@cosminetron]

Showderp threads are still around, but significantly slower than the good ol days

[@carnage0685]

@@ghettospaghetto1627snowflake lol

[@sagacious03]

Fun analysis video! Thanks so much for uploading! Looking forward to more like this from you!

[@ajemison3]

That Spongebob hdb meme, got me damn lol

[@manmadethings6986]

As a Torterra Line lover since I got Platinum for Christmas, I cannot overstate how excited I am that he is good finally

[@wob6169]

thanks to you i will now start using foul play electrode, the best pokemon in OU

[@blumwashere]

in my head iron valiant just holds like 15 different cards, and each of those cards is either them being a setup physical sweeper, a calm mind sweeper, an trick user, an encore user, a choice bander, a choice specs, a choice scarf, life orb user, expert belt mixed attacker and they just stand at their opponent emotionlessly as they choose their card

[@profiscus]

I for one appreciate this video so much. I’m not into the poke community enough to understand them. but I love me some memes

[@PianoMeister3]

This was a fun video! Thanks for explaining the context for someone who didn't follow competitive in the past. Also, at 9:28 it looks like the artwork is a pretty direct reference to Dr. Claw, the villain from the old Inspector Gadget TV show.

[@oskarbremer5406]

By far the most legendary meme is Gigachad Dusknoir, great copypasta, great flavour, great tilting potential. Overall: 11/10 meme

[@ovrsurge4689]

I miss the 2013-14 meme days. Talonflame and Mega Kangaskhan were nearly as prevalent as snorlax is in gen2 ou. The vgc winners that year had mostly teams with those two as cores. The junior's division even had a mirror match at the grand finals. They were everywhere.

[@redgyrados2000]

Freezai slipping his own tweet into the compilation and thought we wouldn't notice lol

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodLamia]

I have never felt such an immense and deep-seated terror from a bigass ball

[@rontheauraknight9606]

10:35 classic Raj.Shoot game from someone who spent an lot of time in the tournaments room when he was active in there (dunno if he still is)

[@hnrysml]

just started watching but already loving the driftveil city theme in the background

[@OFSheep]

Hey, in the collage at the start, I made that landorus animation swap!

[@Prawcin]

Arceus steel is like the best thing that happened to this community

[@FancyPantaloons]

8:50 New meta dropped, use Clefable with Magic Guard holding heavy duty boots and double trick your opponent

[@balintkristof8442]

When your IQ underflows

[@toujounozomi3126]

-"GOAT Tusk/Fraudgambit", 'as the strongest...', "domain expansion" -"Nah, I'd win" double terastalization -"I became sauske uchiha" and the Energy Ball Jellicent -"You're too slow" to Deoxys Speed (Regieleki, booster Valiant/Boulder) -"Dialga/Palkia Origin: Domain Expansion" ("automatic trick room ability", "automatic gravity ability", and why - doubles in general + dynamic speed, gravity hypnosis/dark void) -Sandy Shocks Darkrai (gravity dark void)

[@Ross516]

This was a nice video, i like using memes to branch off into learning about a subculture and its history :)

[@horserax]

i fucking lost my shit when the talonflames type was Brave and Bird type

[@Hydratcha]

i used to go outside and eat a raw potato in the rain to pretend i was in the irish famine

[@Ryuukotsusei]

I really loved this but can you show the meme you are describing at the end one last time before moving on to the new meme. This way we don’t have to backtrack if we didn’t get the meme until you explained it. Still giving it the thumbs up but next time that would help a lot

[@skeepodoop5197]

Never thought I'd see the day.

[@adambyte256]

Shame on you for not also explaining that the Dusknoir ice punch meta-meme was specifically casting Dusknoir as Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget.

[@X9Z17]

Now just use Heavy-Duty Boots on Magic Guard Clefable to really bamboozle the toxic.

[@Gamester8000]

Wasn't here, but I think the Shadow the Hedgehog pic saying "Now play it against Zapdos," is funny!

[@tysondennis1016]

Unfortunate doesn’t begin to describe my series

[@TwilightMistress]

The brave bird meme is amazing. I played a lot of gen 6, and my main team had a Talonflame called brave bird, who only brave bird people xD

[@chesspuppeteer]

You might be able to find it with your audience but more than a decade ago there was this meme of Stadium Clefairy showing the exact flinch chances of Jirachi flinching you. Been trying to find it again for years but figured you might get a kick out of it.

[@bohanxu6125]

"Hey guys, did you know that in terms of male human and f"... get shot

[@Lockirby2]

I feel like I understand competitive Pokemon better than the meme formats...

[@castform7]

Part of me wishes Explosion still halved Defense when used since that's pretty funny but I can understand how it becomes less of a trade off then.

[@repstylegaming9730]

Named my Garchomp Choice Band, and they really thought he was choice banded.

[@XanXinGames]

The last meme made me genuinely LOL for a solid 15 minutes

[@shblov]

The electrode one took me out lol

[@kangelenjoyer]

127 thousand people (and counting) were absolutely HERE for you to Explain The Joke™

[@jesuisunstroopwafel]

I suppose Gen 5 OU is a meme too. To this day, it is still considered the competitive Singles equivalent of Hell.

[@dekkerdoesstuff]

haven't seen the video yet so idk if he covered the part the video kept getting delayed and he stated "memeposting will continue until morale improves" which somehow led to the creation of a freezecord union

[@zachpro5475]

Weres part 2 of hackmons history

[@andrewhighley1468]

Because as everyone knows, explaining the joke makes it funnier.

[@lunarrain1567]

He even try to throw a m0pan meme out onto the normie

[@jayanths1221]

Found the Reddit cave dwellers

[@pikapower_kirby]

One of the few I understood immediately was the Scizor U-Turn one, and I was giggling the whole time. If the U-Turn nerf ever happens, are we gonna get another Scizor suspect test? XD

[@captain.snowman4769]

Damn no “I am kingambit counter!” Or neutralizing gas gigas, gotta see more

[@russellsam829]

They forgot to add the Brave Bird type to Brave Bird

[@gaara8014]

How of all things is the rage quit meme not here, "unfortunate doesn't begin to describe"

[@cellP8]

dear lord the Arceus nickname robbery is sneak level 100 lmao

[@Kalaphant]

2:30 Ooh a Gen 9 one (That looks pre-home). That's the format I know best lol