Ever since I played competitive RBY I loved using wrap. I know wrap has a bad reputation for being low skill, luck driven and just plain annoying for everyone. However, nothing could stop me from embarking on a quest to find a strong viable wrap team. I have had some success in creating one:
RBY - The Toxic+Wrap/Clamp Sweep Team | Pokémon Perfect
Despite my best efforts this team though playable still proved to be inconsistent. The team is high risk high reward where I win big and lose big (against similarly ranked players) – close games are relatively rare. Despite the thrill of playing with such a team this left me unsatisfied. Moreover, in competitive environments the same tricks don’t work twice and so the team is more suited for random match-ups.
After some intense research and experimentation, I have elaborated upon this concept to create wrap teams which are more reliable and less luck dependent. Moreover, the concept is expanded to generate a suite of wrap teams with increased variations and unpredictability, which I believe will be workable in tournament settings. Big thanks go to marcoasd, sceptross and KAZ for their invaluable input, suggestions and discussions, without which this would certainly not be possible. Thank you so much guys!
When playing with wrappers I’ve noticed a trend – they tend to do better near the end of the game when there are fewer mons around. A 6 v 6 match environment isn’t so favourable to them, yet if we play 3 v 3 or 2 v 2 then wrappers undoubtedly have the edge. 5 a side basketball and 3 a side are completely different games and so are 11 men football/soccer to 5 a side street football/soccer. As a general rule when there are fewer members on each side, the nature of the game shifts towards more offense relative to defense – the same with RBY and perhaps other generations too. Based on this principle I have developed three types of wrap teams – Boom Wrap, Aggro Wrap, and Balanced Wrap.
Boom Wrap Team
B-2 Spirit (Gengar)
- Hypnosis
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Explosion
M270 GMLRS (Exeggutor)
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Psychic
- Explosion
FV4034 Challenger 2 (Snorlax)
- Body Slam
- Reflect
- Earthquake
- Self Destruct
USS Zumwalt (Cloyster)
- Clamp
- Blizzard
- Toxic
- Explosion
AH-64 Apache (Victreebel)
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Wrap
- Razor Leaf
F-35 Lighting (Dragonite)
- Wrap
- Blizzard
- Agility
- Thunder Wave
- Hypnosis
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Explosion
M270 GMLRS (Exeggutor)
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Psychic
- Explosion
FV4034 Challenger 2 (Snorlax)
- Body Slam
- Reflect
- Earthquake
- Self Destruct
USS Zumwalt (Cloyster)
- Clamp
- Blizzard
- Toxic
- Explosion
AH-64 Apache (Victreebel)
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Wrap
- Razor Leaf
F-35 Lighting (Dragonite)
- Wrap
- Blizzard
- Agility
- Thunder Wave
As the name suggests this team consists of a large number of boomers – mons with explosion/self-destruct. The idea is to blow things up at the opportune time, and reduce the numbers for the wrappers to clean up in late game. Against a standard team consisting of Alakazam, Zapdos, Tauros, Exeggutor, Chansey and Snorlax, the four bombs on the team Gengar (lead), Snorlax, Exeggutor, Cloyster should aim to take out Chansey, Snorlax, Alakazam, Exeggutor respectively, as a minimum – if you are able to take out faster mons such as Zapdos/Tauros which are more of a threat to the team then by all means, though expect that to be difficult. If you successfully take out the above four mons (or bring them into revenge-kill range) then you should be able to have a good end game with favourable match-ups. If the team has Starmie then Snorlax should be the one taking it out and Exeggutor/Cloyster as a backup bomb. Victreebel should put something to sleep and perhaps even paralyze another mon, while Dragonite will seek to paralyze Zapdos and/or Tauros (it will be easier to do so if Dragonite has used agility off some sleeping pokemon). Spreading toxic on Chansey can work effectively in this team – Cloyster can dish it out easily as long as you set it up with Exeggutor, Tauros and Snorlax, who will all try to run away from blizzard. Afterwards switch to Gengar to take the incoming twave/tbolt from Chansey. Then boom. Chansey will be eaten alive very quickly by wraps/clamp later. The same tactic also works on Lapras – DO NOT try this if you know they have a Starmie! Perhaps a better idea is to wrap/clamp here and there first, which forces your opponent to reveal their team. Hbeam on snorlax is not needed since you are booming most of the time. Reflect or counter are good as often you will get into physical fist fights with Tauros and another Snorlax. Reflect is generally preferred as it lets you live long enough to boom.
Obvious things to beware of:
1) Golem/Rhydon
2) Reflects
3) Gengar
The first thing isn’t too much of a problem since the team has more than enough things to counter them. The second thing is a bit more problematic, the solution is to be a bit more subtle and not make the opponent think you are going to just boom the first chance you get – the strength is that all the boomers can do other threatening things besides boom so do something else and boom a little later. The third thing is the hardest to deal with (but Gengar is naturally a nightmare for wrap teams anyway). You should reserve your bombs because they can all pose threats to Gengar. Don’t boom right away and invite Gengar to boom at you - make him an offer he can't refuse such as taking it head on with blizzard Dragonite. Fortunately relatively few players use Gengar.
A standard game goes something like this: Gengar leads and if you meet Jynx just blow it up. If you meet Alakazam, switch out to Exeggutor. The opponent thinks you are going to use sleep powder but instead boom. You have revealed your Gengar and often the opponent will be forced to send out something faster than Gengar – Tauros/Starmie/Jolteon. Every team has a Tauros but not every team has a Starmie/Jolteon (in addition to Alakazam). What’s more common is to see Exeggutor. You should send out Victreebel – put it to sleep. If it’s Tauros or Starmie then try to paralyze it with stunspore. If Jolteon comes then switch back to Gengar.
Obvious things to beware of:
1) Golem/Rhydon
2) Reflects
3) Gengar
The first thing isn’t too much of a problem since the team has more than enough things to counter them. The second thing is a bit more problematic, the solution is to be a bit more subtle and not make the opponent think you are going to just boom the first chance you get – the strength is that all the boomers can do other threatening things besides boom so do something else and boom a little later. The third thing is the hardest to deal with (but Gengar is naturally a nightmare for wrap teams anyway). You should reserve your bombs because they can all pose threats to Gengar. Don’t boom right away and invite Gengar to boom at you - make him an offer he can't refuse such as taking it head on with blizzard Dragonite. Fortunately relatively few players use Gengar.
A standard game goes something like this: Gengar leads and if you meet Jynx just blow it up. If you meet Alakazam, switch out to Exeggutor. The opponent thinks you are going to use sleep powder but instead boom. You have revealed your Gengar and often the opponent will be forced to send out something faster than Gengar – Tauros/Starmie/Jolteon. Every team has a Tauros but not every team has a Starmie/Jolteon (in addition to Alakazam). What’s more common is to see Exeggutor. You should send out Victreebel – put it to sleep. If it’s Tauros or Starmie then try to paralyze it with stunspore. If Jolteon comes then switch back to Gengar.
Instead of Snorlax, you can have Tauros. It essentially performs the same function but with bslam and hbeam instead of self-destruct. Instead of Victreebel you can have Jynx. Jynx has the advantage of being more of a direct threat to many things, and also checks Gengar. However, you lose a wrapper, some paralysis support, and a powerful weapon against Starmie. Toxic Jynx works the same way as Cloyster on Chansey - hit and run.
M1A2 Abrams (Tauros)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
BAE Rapier (Jynx)
- Lovely Kiss
- Blizzard
- Psychic
- Toxic
M1A2 Abrams (Tauros)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
BAE Rapier (Jynx)
- Lovely Kiss
- Blizzard
- Psychic
- Toxic
Aggro Wrap Team
Navy SEAL (Alakazam)
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Recover
F-15 Eagle (Zapdos)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Drill Peck
- Reflect
M1A2 Abrams (Tauros)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
AH-64 Apache (Victreebel)
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Wrap
- Razor Leaf
F-35 Lightning (Dragonite)
- Wrap
- Blizzard
- Agility
- Thunder Wave
USS Zumwalt (Cloyster)
- Clamp
- Blizzard
- Toxic
- Explosion
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Recover
F-15 Eagle (Zapdos)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Drill Peck
- Reflect
M1A2 Abrams (Tauros)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
AH-64 Apache (Victreebel)
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Wrap
- Razor Leaf
F-35 Lightning (Dragonite)
- Wrap
- Blizzard
- Agility
- Thunder Wave
USS Zumwalt (Cloyster)
- Clamp
- Blizzard
- Toxic
- Explosion
Same philosophy drives this team as the previous one but instead of using booms you use aggressive mons to do the task. If the above team is all about big bombs and big damage, this team can be considered to be about precision and guided missile strikes against strategic targets. After much experimentation and thanks to the input of marcoasd and sceptross, I have come to the conclusion that Alakazam is the best and most reliable lead – always something nice to fall back on when your attack hits a dead end. You come back to the good old zam to regroup and then attack again. Plus he’s also a much needed check against Gengars. Alakazam is also the best sleep absorber. On this team toxic can also work on Chansey and Lapras – switch out to an already paralyzed/asleep Alakazam after toxic. Zapdos has reflect so that it can go up against Snorlax, Tauros and explosions (e.g. from Exeggutor).
Instead of Zapdos, you can choose to have Jolteon. Since Cloyster often has many opportunities to explode on Chansey (at a time of your choosing), the matchups can be considered a 5 v 5 game without Chansey, in which case Jolteon would be more of a threat. As a general rule the fewer things there are the more important speed and aggression become. It’s viable even to have Jolteon on the lead spot instead of Alakazam though that’s generally a high risk strategy. Jolteon outspeeds Starmie and Tauros which is nice – though beware of earthquakes from Snorlax and Tauros.
M2 Bradley (Jolteon)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Pin Missile
- Double Kick
M2 Bradley (Jolteon)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Pin Missile
- Double Kick
Balanced Wrap Team
Navy SEAL (Alakazam)
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Recover
F-15 Eagle (Zapdos)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Drill Peck
- Agility
M1A2 Abrams (Tauros)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
FV4034 Challenger 2 (Snorlax)
- Body Slam
- Counter
- Earthquake
- Self Destruct
AH-64 Apache (Victreebel)
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Wrap
- Razor Leaf
USS Zumwalt (Cloyster)
- Clamp
- Blizzard
- Hyper Beam
- Explosion
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Recover
F-15 Eagle (Zapdos)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Drill Peck
- Agility
M1A2 Abrams (Tauros)
- Body Slam
- Hyper Beam
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
FV4034 Challenger 2 (Snorlax)
- Body Slam
- Counter
- Earthquake
- Self Destruct
AH-64 Apache (Victreebel)
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Wrap
- Razor Leaf
USS Zumwalt (Cloyster)
- Clamp
- Blizzard
- Hyper Beam
- Explosion
This team combines features of the other two teams. Wrap in general features less prominently in this team hence the absence of Dragonite and toxic on Cloyster is replaced by Hbeam. Wrap is not used to sweep here but rather to scout out the opponent’s team, to generate control and flow, and arranging favourable match-ups with free switches. The extra damage here and there are just bonuses (every little helps). This team in many ways is like a standard team which can wrap. Victreebel is faster than Exeggutor and can also cause problems for Starmie, Lapras, Golem/Rhydon, Slowbrow and other things. Since this team is more like a standard team counter on Snorlax would probably be preferred over reflect. Zapdos gets the standard agility instead of reflect in this team.
Once again due to the presence of Cloyster which equates with the opportunity to trade for Chansey, Jolteon might often be more useful than Zapdos. Instead of Victreebel, you can have Jynx in its place but set her in lead position. This would then become only marginally different from a standard team with only Cloyster being able to partial trap. Jynx can also replace Alakazam.
M2 Bradley (Jolteon)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Pin Missile
- Double Kick
BAE Rapier (Jynx)
- Lovely Kiss
- Blizzard
- Psychic
- Rest
M2 Bradley (Jolteon)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Pin Missile
- Double Kick
BAE Rapier (Jynx)
- Lovely Kiss
- Blizzard
- Psychic
- Rest
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