Thief: the team that changed GSC

[@BKCplaysPokemon]

Thief (1981) was a huge influence on Drive (2011) starring Ryan Gosling Some more tour replays with the team: replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2ou-515006 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2ou-514552 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2ou-436070 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2ou-1107449782 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2ou-1112086734 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2ou-1090587189 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2ou-434171 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2ou-552108 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2ou-662332 replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2ou-444825

[@wazzledog1007]

I loved that third replay with the snorlax.

[@llamaryder1]

Did that snorlax just sweep with STRUGGLE

[@oneobstyboi5697]

BKC thieving my heart with these long videos

[@iurycauffman2820]

Please make short ones I need my heart back 😭

[@jamesthomas6984]

That's facts

[@jimothycool]

Thief is what made me enjoy GSC

[@creeperman1295]

This is insane.

[@swineflu249]

thief spam has become potent in GSC UU as well. mons like haunter, electabuzz, and gligar use thief to soften checks to dangerous offensive mons like nidoqueen, gyarados, and electabuzz itself. something like hypno becomes much less effective w/o lefties, especially considering how omnipresent spikes are. even thieving something like qwilfish can help an allied blastoise win the spikes war. hope BKC will shine the spotlight on GSC UU at some point in the future. it's a great tier that I think is shrouded in a lot of misinformation and could use some more exposure

[@PattPlays]

32:00 >imagines machamp with whirlwind to succ in a snorlax and cross chop it.. "What If Circle Throw was in GSC"

[@patt1511]

BKC being suprised by his past self's reads never fails to make me smile.

[@schroederluck7984]

Imagine getting a Lovely Kiss from Nidoking 🥰

[@Rezzo64]

😍🤩🥰 Nidoking Lovely Kiss vs. Me: 0-0 (0 - 0%) -- possibly the best move ever

[@TandyYandy]

hi BKC, the teambuilding video you released recently helped me build a team i used to get suspect reqs in gen 9 for the first time. thanks for providing quality resources to folks who want to get into/better at pokemon.

[@jman2050]

I love how this Zapdos set is something you’d see in a 10-year old’s casual single player game.

[@seisveintiocho-x9e]

They IV breed for a strong Hidden Power?

[@SnowMonkeySoFunky]

Thank you for reminding me that I bought a copy of Thief from a Criterion flash sale a while ago and forgot to watch it. That's on for this weekend.

[@ark8021]

1:44 as someone playing in a Chicago recreation in my school (rerecorded musics, whole script translated and everything) in less than 2 weeks, having my favorite youtuber mention this wonderful musical warms my heart!

[@etohKP]

38:04 "'a trainer'. what am i, a pokemon vgc commentator?" LMFAO absolutely killed me

[@shortpitched713]

I loved using this team. A banger. A true hood classic.

[@sensei9767]

Been spamming this team on ladder ever since you made this video, and I love it! This was the first team that made me really enjoy playing gsc OU and at this point, it's probably my favorite metagame.

[@anon-99]

Hello movie, mons, and music enthusiast Mr. BKC, You've talked a lot about the importance of foresight (both short and long term), and where possible, planning games out -- I think it would be cool to hear your thoughts on that in video form someday. Thank you for the content!

[@11_turtles]

My friends and I were talking about like what if BKC did a video on "How good would Mudsdale be in ADV OU" because it's my favorite Pokemon. : ) Even with my limited ADV OU knowledge I think it'd be decent.

[@user-hb7bo4mr2i]

Sounds like a goated rock resist

[@20oxide36]

If it keeps Stamina, it sounds like an incredible Aero check. Historically, mono ground hasn't been great because of how much ground benefits from dual types but fortunately Mudsdale does hit really hard so that's nice. I could see some rest sets like EQ/Toxic/Rest/Sleep Talk or EQ/Rock Slide/Curse/Rest. I don't normally like RestTalk in ADV but it synergizes pretty well with Stamina. There are also some pretty standard utility sets where it could be used like a grounded Flygon with EQ/Rock Slide/Toxic/Protect or EQ/Toxic/Protect/Roar. It also learns Superpower for a big hit on Blissey or Snorlax, that's pretty much it though as anything else not hit by EQ+Slide is probably more scared of a Toxic than a Superpower. Hidden Power Bug/Ghost are also good options and would make a CB set pretty threatening but probably easy to play around and chip away with spikes.

[@SSBMNicki]

I feel like it would completely own Tyranitar, would it not? Even +1 Earthquakes from tyranitar don't do that much, Ice Beams also do less than half, and Mudsdale gets superpower which destroys tyranitar.

[@peadarmcmenamin2676]

this team was what kickstarted my interest in gsc - so much fun to play

[@AndrewRKenny]

I lost to this team in GSC Cup X. Good times. 😅

[@webster1211]

Lake of Rage theme is amazing!

[@Deredeo13]

I really hope Refn revisits the Driver with the sequel, Driven. The book was so amazing and the revenge plot fit in nicely, as well as the villian.

[@Deredeo13]

Also moving the story from California to Arizona worked for being a modern day western

[@qweschuning]

I could listen to BKC for like ever. He's always dropping gems! 🙌

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

Time for me to shake up the Gen 2 meta: Rest talk, sandstorm, hidden power electric tyranitar

[@sayaksen7545]

Very innovative to have just 3 moves

[@moyai5317]

I love that moltress can absorb thief

[@qweschuning]

27:57 PRIME BKC. No audio cut, no edits. 🔥🔥💯🔥

[@qweschuning]

No, I didn't skip the break ❤

[@qweschuning]

Don't test your bladder

[@SpaceFrog999]

Jimothy cool mentioned

[@Dave_Chrome]

Finally more Pokemon music yay

[@llamaman431]

That moment when you realize how deep into Pokemon you've gotten

[@birthdayninjah]

Basically Knife Conniving

[@mehdidelteil3672]

The problem with the triple thief is heracross, who switch too easly into nidoking and gengar and they cannot thief a already no item heracross

[@Rose-ez7yn]

l + ratio + frozen + no leftovers + 23%

[@Tommidaux]

Great vid No CasedVictory mention ?

[@pumas222]

Tried watching Thief with my girlfriend the other night. It was not the vibe. Maybe I’ll rewatch it alone, but it was so droll at the time.

[@WilliamQuintana-p4v]

O'Reilly Harbor

[@isaacdeer]

awesome sauce

[@Qaos]

Speaking of shifting metagames, what's your take on unfreezing older generations that have dedicated councils and a large enough player base?

[@jacobcochran7018]

Bkc your the goat

[@9bit927]

My favorite part in Thief was when SPOILERS: One thing goes bad for the guy and he just burns down everything he's ever worked on. Every man feels that deep in his soul.

[@JohnHunterPlayerr]

Zap out running jynx is something that needs fixing.

[@Paul_Reeds_Boyfriend]

POKKED

[@nSenuh]

BKC

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

Berserker gene is the best gen 2 item

[@shortpitched713]

[@yourdagan]

Awareness of Thief's presence in this metagame led me to explore it in Gen 3 OU, which is not unheard of via Skarmory but otherwise so; it's aptly considered 'worse Knock Off', but the distribution is so much wider and that pseudo-possession of such a valuable utility move grants value and utility to mons that would otherwise be considered worthless and unusable. In particular I tried Thief on Magmar and I was very pleased with its ability to always make itself useful even if it theoretically only got one move off, particularly on its lures like Blissey and Swampert. I imagine there's a lot of hidden potential in the move for that metagame that is underlooked because it's just worse Knock Off ultimately, but when it is accepted for what it is, that can be at least a little bit exciting because of how good and yet rare Knock Off is.

[@BelugaTheHutt]

There can even be a few very, very niche uses of Thief in recent generations. If something seems like it would be excellent with Knock Off, but it doesn't have access to Knock Off, sometimes it can pull off a miracle with Thief. It's much, much more situational, since you can't just treat it as a "free click", the way you would with Knock Off, because you really want it to specifically hit Leftovers holders or HDB users, or in some specific cases, AV or CB users can be acceptable targets, but really it's primarily an anti-Leftovers niche. Before the DLC came out with the Knock Off TM, I used Thief Scizor a bit, since the things which people were switching into it at the time seemed to be mostly holding Leftovers. The loss of Roost really hurt Scizor though, because the set felt like it didn't do enough with its one-off item removal to justify the team slot when it didn't have a recovery move to stick around and do other things. I also got a few games with Thief Fezandipiti after DLC1 a few isolated times in which it worked as intended - I should get around to trying it again, now that it's allowed in RU, where it might actually be able to work more consistently. This will make serious players roll their eyes, andI know that it already learns Knock Off, but the meme set of Fling+Covet Ambipom is surprisingly okay down in the depths of NU, where you can get away with absolute nonsense like that. Thief/Covet certainly doesn't get anything on the same level as the early gens, but there can be tiny bits of use, here and there.