Summary

Tyranitar is, by far, both the most limiting Pokemon in the drafting phase and the most versatile Pokemon in the building phase. It limits just about every single strategy that involves low health checkpoints -- from pinch berries, to Flail and Reversal, to even Ninjask. Of course, it also prevents you from using these strategies, however, you control when Tyranitar is brought. In addition to the invalidation of some strategies, it also provides incredible set variety, learning just about every move it can ask for. The stats are more than good enough to fit just about any move and combination that one could want to use. In fact, Tyranitar can use these very same pinch berry strats it prevents by being immune to its own Sandstorm and having superb stats to make use of them. Permanent sand is a game-warping mechanic that a lot of Pokemon are happy to see due to its enabling of KOs, and Tyranitar is the steward of the storm.

The most obvious and threatening Tyranitar set is Dragon Dance Tyranitar, known for well it can break teams. Against drafts with Pokemon that can't answer a fast pokemon that simply threatens setting up any given turn, this set can be deadly. Of course, this set struggles with the same things it does in OU such as Metagross, Swampert, and Flygon, but if you can either eliminate or are not facing an opponent using these pokemon, you can set yourself up to either clean sweep instantly or put yourself into such a dominant position that you've basically won the game off of this one boost alone by firing off devastating Rock Slides and Earthquakes. Conversely, you can run a bulkier set with high hp and lower Attack or Speed. This will heavily exploit builds that can stop one dragon dance, such as with Dugtrio, but struggle to survive once a second or third is set up. What makes Tyranitar even more incredible is that the limited priority that does exist is usually in the form of Quick Attack or Extreme Speed, which exists only on very specific mons and Tyranitar resists thanks to its Rock typing. Tyranitar has far more than just Dragon Dance, however -- Tyranitar can easily run mixed sets which use both physical and special moves to break down multiple checks. Tyranitar has an incredible special movepool outside of the Hidden Power it can slot, learning Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Flamethrower, Surf, Dragon Claw, STAB Crunch, Pursuit (one of the few mons which not only learn the move but can make effective use of it) as well as utility moves such as Thunder Wave, Roar, and Taunt. You can customize Tyranitar's EVs incredibly well thanks to these advantages. Your stats are so incredible that, with the exception of speed creep on specific targets, you can do just about anything with them. You can go offensive and do things like guarantee a 2HKO on Zapdos that has enough bulk to live a +1 Rock Slide with Ancient Power, or spread the effort values across Tyranitar's strong defensive stats to live certain hits within the range of a pinch berry to boost its stats even further in conjunction with Dragon Dance.

Tyranitar, of course, has a single 4x weakness to Fighting. However, it is notable that Tyranitar's incredible bulk allows you to live just about any Brick Break or Hidden Power Fighting used as coverage -- even Choice Band Salamence Brick Break is not a guaranteed KO on Tyranitar. The only threats to OHKO Tyranitar are Fighting types such as Hariyama and Machamp -- the same Fighting types that get extremely neutralized by your sand presence, forcing them to all either run Leftovers or take damage every single turn. Even then, all of these Fighting-type Pokemon are usually exploitable in some way. Heracross, if it can't run its usual Salac Berry strategies, has to rely on connecting Megahorn, Medicham can't run the far more advantageous Salac or Lum berry it enjoys, and almost every single Fighting type that isn't one of those two are basically invalidated when their primary use case of Reversal + Salac Berry strategies is removed by sand and they are forced to run Leftovers, lest they slowly lose health. Bulky water types serve as serviceable checks to Tyranitar, but thanks to its movepool enabling the use of moves such as Thunder, Hidden Power Grass, and Sand wearing almost all of them down, none are that large a concern your other teammates or Tyranitar itself can't handle.

Tyranitar is not only one of the most versatile pokemon in the entire draft format on its own, but sand limits many Pokemon and while enabling so many more. Most drafts are enabled by how powerful certain pokemon such as Charizard or Heracross can be outside of sand, but Tyranitar brings back them into the sandstorm and creates an internal metagame within your battle pool that is more similar to the OU format where it thrives. There are no pokemon which can truly counter you, even the usual would-be checks such as Swampert and Flygon, thanks to the draft format allowing you to know exactly what you're facing and prepare against it. Completely limiting and preventing pokemon that would usually be the bane of most drafters also enables you to build entirely within your gameplan, and force them to play in your game. There is nothing Tyranitar can't do and it will always pull more than its fair share of weight, while forcing an unpredecented power within the team builder.

Summary written by Wraxius

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